KEY POINTS
- President Joe Biden cruised to victory and easily won all 55 of the state's Democratic delegates
- He had backed the unprecedented move of making South Carolina the first voting state over New Hampshire
- South Carolina had played a crucial role in propelling him to the Democratic nomination in 2020
President Joe Biden secured a comfortable win Saturday in South Carolina's Democratic primary, marking his first official victory this election season.
In a widely-expected result, the incumbent president swept past his challengers U.S. Representative Dean Phillips and best-selling self-help author Marianne Williamson. The vote in the Palmetto State was also a test of Biden's current popularity among Black voters.
The president was declared the winner by the Associated Press less than an hour after the polls closed at 7 p.m.
Biden, who backed the unprecedented move of making South Carolina the first voting state over New Hampshire, won all 55 of the state's Democratic delegates.
New Hampshire has historically held the first Democratic primary, but this year, the Democratic National Committee switched the official order under Biden's direction to make South Carolina the first nominating contest.
Last month, New Hampshire still held a leadoff primary, and Biden's name wasn't on the ballot. The president won regardless, owing to a write-in campaign launched by his supporters. However, since the Democratic Party did not officially sanction that contest, Biden did not receive any actual delegates there, thus making Saturday's results in South Carolina his first official primary win.
Biden did not win the 2020 Democratic primary in New Hampshire, but South Carolina played a crucial role in propelling him to the Democratic nomination in 2020.
"In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and set us on the path to winning the Presidency," Biden said in a statement. "Now in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the Presidency again — and making Donald Trump a loser — again."
As for the Republican side, former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley continue to battle each other in the lead up to the GOP primary in the state on Feb. 24.
