Trump wins South Carolina primary, easily beating Nikki Haley in her home state
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday, beating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and consolidating his path to a third-straight GOP nomination.
Trump has swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, with previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. His latest victory is likely to increase pressure on Haley — who was Trump’s representative to the U.N. and governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 — to leave the race.
A rematch between Trump and President Biden is becoming increasingly likely. Still, Haley has vowed to stay in the campaign “until the last person votes,” arguing that those whose contests come after the early primaries and caucuses deserve the right to have a choice between candidates. But she was unable to dent Trump’s momentum in her home state, despite holding far more campaign events and warning that the front-runner, who is 77 and faces four indictments, is too old and distracted to be president again.
The Associated Press declared Trump the winner as polls closed statewide at 7 p.m. EST, based on a comprehensive survey of Republican South Carolina primary voters. The survey confirms the findings of pre-election day polls showing Trump far outpacing Haley statewide.
“I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now,” Trump said, taking the stage for a victory speech moments after polls closed. “You can celebrate for about 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work.”
South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary has been a reliable bellwether for Republicans. In all but one primary since 1980, the Republican winner in the state has gone on to be the party’s nominee. The lone exception was Newt Gingrich in 2012.
Trump was dominant across the state, even leading in Lexington County, which Haley represented in the state Legislature. Many Trump-backing South Carolinians, even some who supported Haley during her time as governor, weren’t willing to give her a home-state bump.
At Haley headquarters on Saturday night, she took the stage in front of supporters and said, “What I saw today was South Carolina’s frustration with our country’s direction. I’ve seen that same frustration nationwide.
“I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden,” Haley said, later adding, “I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run. I’m a woman of my word.”
She said she plans to head to Michigan for its primary on Tuesday — the last major contest before Super Tuesday. Still, she faces questions about where she might be able to win a contest or be competitive.
Meanwhile, Trump and Biden are already behaving as if they expect to face off in November.
Former President Trump claims his many criminal indictments boost his support among Black Americans because they see him as a victim of discrimination.
Trump and his allies argue that Biden has made the U.S. weaker and have attacked him over his handling of record-high migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
During a speech before conservative activists Saturday outside of Washington, Trump cast November’s presidential election as “judgment day” as he again cloaked his campaign in religious imagery.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump painted an apocalyptic vision of the future if he is not reelected. He cast himself as a “proud political dissident” days after comparing himself to Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the opponent of autocratic leader Vladimir Putin who died in a remote Arctic prison.
On Friday night, Trump addressed Black conservatives at a gala, claiming that his four criminal indictments boosted his support among Black Americans because they see him as a victim of discrimination. He compared his legal jeopardy to the legacy of anti-Black prejudice in the U.S. legal system.
Trump has also questioned — often in harshly personal terms — whether the 81-year-old Biden is too old to serve a second term. Biden’s team in turn has highlighted Trump’s mistakes on the campaign trail.
Biden has stepped up his recent fundraising trips around the country and has increasingly attacked Trump directly. He has called Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement dire threats to the nation’s founding principles. His reelection campaign has lately focused most of its attention on Trump’s suggestion that he’d spend the first day of a second presidency as a dictator and that he’d tell Russia to attack NATO allies that are “delinquent.”
Trump said Russia should be able to do ‘whatever the hell they want’ to NATO members who don’t meet their defense spending targets.
Haley has also criticized Trump on his NATO comments and for questioning why her husband wasn’t on the campaign trail with her — even as former First Lady Melania Trump hasn’t appeared with him. Maj. Michael Haley is deployed in Africa on a mission with the South Carolina Army National Guard.
But South Carolina’s Republican voters line up with Trump on having lukewarm feelings about NATO and continued U.S. support for Ukraine, according to AP VoteCast data from Saturday’s primary. About 6 in 10 oppose continuing aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Only about a third described America’s participation in NATO as “very good,” with more saying it’s “somewhat good.”
It’s unclear how Haley can stop Trump from clinching enough delegates to become the nominee. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) complimented Haley while speaking to reporters at Trump’s election-night party in Columbia but suggested it was time for her to drop out.
“I think the sooner she does, the better for her, the better for the party,” Graham said.
Trump’s political strength has endured despite the 91 criminal charges he faces related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, the discovery of classified documents in his Florida residence and allegations that he secretly arranged payoffs to a porn actor. The former president’s first criminal trial is set to begin March 25 in New York, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to Stormy Daniels in the closing weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Those who remember the chaos of the Trump presidency may find it hard to believe, but a majority of voters see him as the candidate of stability. GOP moves on abortion could change that.
Biden won South Carolina’s Democratic primary this month and faces only one remaining challenger, Dean Phillips. The Minnesota congressman has continued to campaign in Michigan ahead of the Democratic primary there, despite having little chance of beating Biden.
Though Biden is expected to cruise to his party’s renomination, he faces criticism from some Democrats for providing military backing to Israel in its war against Hamas. Some in his party support a cease-fire as the death toll in Gaza has reached nearly 30,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The war could hurt Biden’s general election chances in Michigan, a swing state that is home to a large Arab American population.
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