President Joe Biden scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024, securing 96% of the vote and all 55 delegates at stake. He was declared the winner by the Associated Press at around 7:23 p.m.
His two primary opponents, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and self-help author Marianne Williamson, conceded defeat and congratulated him on his win.
Biden had pushed for South Carolina to be the first official primary state after Iowa and New Hampshire. The president praised the diversity of South Carolina, which has a large African-American population, and credited them for turning the tide of his 2020 primary bid and helping him win the presidency. In a statement, he said:
“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. 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.”
Now following his win, Joe Biden’s main challenge is to fend off any potential surge from Trump, who remains popular among his loyal base and has vowed to reclaim the White House in 2024.
Trump, on the other hand, is facing his own primary battle in South Carolina, where he is competing against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017.
