Biden Racks Up Easy Win in South Carolina Democratic Primary

Stephanie Lai and Akayla Gardner
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden cruised to victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, a vote that tested his support among Black voters and independents — and will impact Nikki Haley’s push to defeat Donald Trump in the Republican contest in three weeks.

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Biden only faced long-shot challengers — Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson. But the victory, following a write-in win in New Hampshire last month, will help him ease doubts about his reelection bid amid concerns from voters, including in his own party, over his age and economic agenda.

News organizations called the race for Biden some 23 minutes after polls closed Saturday evening, while Biden was attending a 2024 campaign meeting in Los Angeles.

Within minutes, Biden’s campaign issued a statement by the president touting his economic record and recalling that South Carolina voters “who proved the pundits wrong” revived his 2020 candidacy, setting him on the path to the White House. Biden took 96.2% of votes cast with all counties reporting, according to preliminary official results Saturday.

The decisive win helps Biden undercut claims from critics that the Democratic base is unenthusiastic about the 81-year-old president’s campaign for a second term.

Biden used the primary to court Black voters, a bloc whose support will be crucial in November, but whose frustrations with the administration on key issues such as voting rights, police reform and student-debt relief, imperil his reelection hopes. The president made South Carolina the first official primary for Democrats in a nod to his successful 2020 effort.

Read more: Trump Sees Path to Victory as Black Voters Turn Away From Biden

The campaign insisted in the runup to the primary that it was not taking Black voter support for granted, with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden all traveling there last month. The Democratic National Committee launched an advertising blitz targeting Black, rural and young voters, and the president’s operation deployed key surrogates, led by Representative Jim Clyburn, a staunch ally.

Democratic leaders hailed Biden’s decision to elevate South Carolina on the primary calendar, saying it gave Black voters, who comprise more than half of the party’s electorate in the state, added influence in the nominating process.

In a speech a week before the primary, Biden cited the economic advances Black voters have made under his administration, warning those gains would be reversed under Trump, who is close to clinching the GOP nomination. Trump leads the president among voters in seven key swing states that will help determine November’s election, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found.

The relatively low turnout compared to the state’s last two Democratic primaries could buoy Haley ahead of the Republican primary on Feb. 23.

South Carolina has an open system, allowing registered voters to participate in either the Republican or Democratic primary but not both, raising the possibility that Haley can turn out independents or moderates from both parties to close the gap with Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

The former president leads Haley in the state where she was governor by about 30 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of GOP polls.

(Updates vote count in fourth paragraph.)

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