CHARLESTON, S.C.—South Carolina voters overwhelming rejected its former governor, Nikki Haley, in almost a two-to-one victory for the 45th President of the United States, Donald J Trump, in its winner-take-all Republican Primary. Trump also won the CPAC straw poll on Saturday with 94%.
“South Carolina, thank you very much,” President Trump told a crowd at the victory event. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. We love you all!”
According to the New York Times, with 93% of the precincts reporting, former President Trump leads Haley by 20.9 points with 60.1% to her 39.2%. The win, with 47 of 50 delegates going to Trump gives him a delegate total of 110 to Haley’s 20—a Republican Presidential nominee needs at least 1215 delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee from July 15 to 18.
“I’m a woman of my word,” Haley posted on X regarding Saturday’s loss. “I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Trump and Biden.”
Haley then insinuated that she is preventing communist-style tactics as a reason to stay in the race.
“In the next 10 days, 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. And I have a duty to give them that choice.”
Haley has yet to win a primary nor come within 10 points of the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, Trump, who has won Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virgin Islands, and now Haley’s home state of South Carolina.
“The primary ends tonight and it is time to turn to the general election so we can defeat Crooked Joe and end his assault on the American people,” Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump Campaign released in response to the South Carolina Republican Primary results.
In 2020, then-candidate Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic Party Primary in South Carolina with 262,336 votes (49%) of the total 539,263 votes cast. For 2024, incumbent President Biden (D) won the state with only 126,493 votes of the total 131,472 cast.
Saturday’s win of at least 425,296 votes, trounces Trump’s primary victory in 2016 of 240,882, and more than tripled the total votes cast in the 2024 Democratic Party South Carolina Primary. A total of 707,376 votes were cast in the 2024 South Carolina Republican Primary with 93% reporting.
According to Real Clear Politics (RCP) aggregate polling in the battleground states of Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, in a head-to-head match up between Trump and Bidan, Trump leads with a 1.9 points margin; at this same time in 2020, the RCP aggregate had Biden at +4.5 against Trump.
Some Democrats are calling for President Biden to resign and not seek re-election after a report from Special Counsel Robert Hur released earlier in February on the then-Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified information, concludes that the evidence cannot withstand “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” because the President lacks the mental acuity to be convicted.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report states.
In an interview with Lex Fridman released on February 20, Democrat super donor, billionaire hedge fund manager, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, Bill Ackman, called Biden’s mental state “embarrassing” and that “Biden, I think is done.”
“His ego is preventing him from stepping aside… You have to be in serious physical shape and at the top of your game to represent this county and he is a far cry from that, and it is just getting worse—it’s embarrassing… Every day he waits, he is handing the election to Trump.” Ackman said.
Bill Ackman has said this week:
“Biden is done. I mean, it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for the country having him as a Presidential candidate, let alone the President. It’s crazy and it’s just going to get worse.” pic.twitter.com/X2YXuR8ele
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 24, 2024
The next big milestone for Republicans is Super Tuesday on March 5 where a third of all delegates are up for grabs—874 delegates in 15 states and one territory. Until then, there is the Michigan Primary on February 27; Idaho Caucus and Michigan state convention on March 2; Washington, D.C. primary on March 3; and the North Dakota caucus on March 4.
The Washington State Presidential ballots have been mailed and are due no later than March 12.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrected the delegate totals for Trump and Haley to 110 and 20 respectively. [2/25/24 12:49PM]
Author: Mario Lotmore
