Bernie Sanders beats Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire
The Vermont Senator won the New Hampshire vote by a significant margin.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders has beaten rival Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
With close to 90% of the votes counted, Senator Sanders has a lead of more than 20 percentage points over Clinton – who won the Iowa caucus by a mild majority last week.
He had topped polls in New Hampshire in recent months, however this is still a significant victory for the self-described Democratic socialist candidate.
Sanders and Clinton both delivered high-energy speeches to enthusiastic supporters after the results were announced, with both candidates addressing LGBT issues.
“We must pursue the fight for women’s rights, for gay rights, for disability rights,” Sanders told his supporters toward the end of his victory speech.
Although her speech was shorter, Clinton went into more depth about how she would address the individual issues facing minority groups across the country.
“We also have to break through the barriers of bigotry. African-American parents shouldn’t have to worry that their children will be harassed, humiliated, even shot because of the colour of their skin.
“LGBT Americans shouldn’t be fired from their jobs because of who they are or who they love.
“And let’s finally deliver something long overdo, equal pay for women in this economy.”
“We have to keep up with every fibre of our being the argument for, the campaign for human rights,” she added.
“Human rights as women’s rights, human rights as gay rights, human rights as worker rights, human rights as voting rights, human rights across the board for every single American.”
It is this attention to detail that has secured Clinton support of the USA’s largest LGBT lobby group.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) board of 32 LGBT rights leaders voted unanimously in favour of Hillary Clinton for President – noting her raft of LGBT policy pledges.
HRC opted to favour Clinton’s plan – which includes 24 sweeping pledges across LGBT policy areas – over Sanders, who has outlined just seven specific LGBT policies.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump beat back his Republican rivals to secure a healthy win in New Hampshire.
The contest now goes on to the Nevada caucus, set for February 20, and the South Carolina primary, February 27. Clinton is far ahead in polls in both states.
