Jewish presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made history on Tuesday night as he became the first Jewish-American to win a presidential primary.

The Vermont senator and Democratic Party representative lead the New Hampshire Primary last night with 59.9% to Hilary Clinton’s 38.5%.

This sweeping defeat makes Sanders the first Jew - and the first non-Christian - to win a US presidential primary.

After the results came in Sanders took to the stage at his victory party and said: “Together we have sent a message that will resonate from Wall Street to Washington ... that government belongs to all of the people.”

He also referred to foreign policy - an area that he has been silent about in recent campaigning - saying: “As president I will defend this nation, but I will do it responsibly.

“We cannot and should not be the policeman of the world”.

He closed with: “Thank you, New Hampshire…Now it’s on to Nevada, South Carolina and beyond.”

On the Republican side, businessman Donald Trump also emerged victorious, winning 34% of the vote, with Ohio Governor John Kasich coming second with 16% of the vote.

Although New Hampshire is home to just 1.3 million Americans, the state holds the nation’s first primary and long has been considered an early proving ground for presidential candidates.

Last week Sanders lost the Iowa Causcus to Clinton with the the smallest margin in the state’s history of Democratic caucuses: 49.6 per cent of the vote to Mrs Clinton’s 49.9%.

The left-wing Sanders told the New Yorker in a recent interview that growing up in a less-than-wealthy Jewish family instilled in him the idea that politics mattered.