Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, SC, on Saturday.
Andrew Harnik/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Andrew Harnik/AP
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, SC, on Saturday.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Former President Donald Trump defeated his remaining major rival, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary on Saturday after polls closed statewide, according to a race call by The Associated Press.
Even though Trump won the statewide race, Haley won the counties with the two largest cities, Columbia and Charleston. Haley, who was twice elected as governor of the state, currently owns a home in Charleston County. He also won Beaufort County, home of Hilton Head. Haley was awarded three delegates in South Carolina and Trump was awarded 47 years. With this, Haley’s total delegate count so far has reached 20. Trump has 110. The first candidate to win 1,215 delegates will win the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump has now won every contest where he was on the ballot. However, his victory in South Carolina is not a surprise. Trump was leading in the polls throughout the race in Haley’s conservative home state. The AP says it based its call on the race on analysis of a survey of primary voters, which confirmed pre-election polling findings that showed Trump far ahead of Haley across the state.
“It’s an opening night and a wonderful evening,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in South Carolina. “It was a little sooner than we expected… a bigger win than we expected.”
Haley told supporters that voters will be heading to the polls during primary elections in several states in the next few weeks and that she would remain in the race until then.
“They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with just one candidate,” he said. “And it’s my duty to give them that option.”
Haley congratulated Trump on his victory during an event in South Carolina on Saturday evening.
“No matter what the results are, I love the people of my state,” she told her supporters.
Haley reiterated comments she made earlier this week that she would remain in the race regardless of the outcome tonight. His campaign is launching a “seven-figure” national ad buy ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5.
“We have a large number of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an option,” he said. “I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I will continue to run for president. I am a woman of my word. I am not going to fight Donald Trump when the majority of Americans reject both “And Joe Biden is leaving.”
Trump maintains a strong lead in the party’s presidential race despite facing a combined 91 state and federal charges. Many of those allegations relate to his efforts to remain in office after losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (left) helps her mother Raj Kaur Randhawa (right) cast her ballot in the South Carolina Republican primary in Kiawah Island, SC, on Saturday.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (left) helps her mother Raj Kaur Randhawa (right) cast her ballot in the South Carolina Republican primary in Kiawah Island, SC, on Saturday.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Biden won the state’s Democratic primary earlier this month with 96% of the vote.
The defeat is a major blow to Haley’s bid for the Republican nomination. Despite spending significant money and time campaigning in South Carolina, she was unable to garner sufficient support – including from party leaders. Trump is very popular in the South and among more conservative voters in the US
A closer look at South Carolina voters – and beyond Michigan
So far, Haley is performing best among voters who are more moderate, as well as Republican voters who are open to alternatives to Trump. In New Hampshire, which has a large share of independent voters, Haley received 43% of the vote. However, Trump won the primary with 54% of the vote.
Linda Higgins, an independent voter in South Carolina, said she voted for Haley in the GOP primary because she liked her work as governor.
“I liked the way he managed the state. When we had hurricanes, disasters, he did very well,” he told NPR. “I like the way he’s handled the state.”
And while Higgins said she voted for Trump in the last two elections, she said she would like to vote for someone else in the upcoming general election.
“I just think it’s become a very divisive issue in this country,” she said. “And I think he leads that.”
Republicans say the party has changed significantly in the state since Haley became governor a decade ago. Matt Moore, who previously served as chairman of South Carolina’s state Republican Party, told NPR’s Don Gonyea that the GOP there is “a very different party than it was when Nikki Haley was governor.”
“I would say first and foremost Nikki Haley is very well respected, but I think people look at the president differently than they look at a governor or a Cabinet member,” he said. “He’s run a pretty textbook campaign. But the reality is that Trump has been the de facto functionary of the party, and there’s hardly anything anyone can do about it.”
During his speech to supporters Saturday evening, Trump also addressed upcoming contests — including Michigan’s primary this coming Tuesday.
“Michigan is coming in and we’re doing great,” he said. “Autoworkers will be with us 100 percent.”
But Trump said he’s also looking forward to winning contests on Super Tuesday. He said that in all the state elections to be held on March 5, surveys show that he is winning.
“I’ve never seen the Republican Party as unified as it is right now,” he said. “I have won every election in record numbers… (but) we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
