President Joe Biden secured an expected win in the Democratic primaries in the state of South Carolina on Saturday, easily passing his first electoral test on his journey to win a second presidential term.
Biden defeated his other Democratic rivals with long odds in the South Carolina vote, including Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson.
Biden’s re-election campaign heavily invested in increasing voter turnout, considering it a test of their efforts to rally black voters, who are a crucial Democratic constituency pivotal to Biden’s chances for a potential rematch against his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, in the upcoming November presidential elections.
The president addressed South Carolina voters in a statement, saying, “In 2020, the voters of South Carolina proved the critics 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 speak again, and I have no doubt that they have put us on the path to winning the presidency again and making Donald Trump a loser once more.”
Biden won all 55 Democratic delegates in the state, a result of the efforts of Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, to make South Carolina a leader in the party’s primaries.
Harrison noted the state’s greater racial diversity compared to the traditional early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which have predominantly white populations. South Carolina, often considered a reliably Republican state, has a 26% black population, with black voters making up 11% in the 2020 general elections, with 9 out of 10 supporting Biden, according to extensive voter polls.
South Carolina played a pivotal role in Biden’s 2020 campaign, reviving his ailing efforts in other early voting states and propelling him to secure the nomination. Long-time South Carolina congressman James Clyburn’s endorsement was a long-awaited signal to the state’s black voters that Biden would champion their interests. Clyburn remains a close ally of Biden and emphasized the need for Democrats to avoid further internal strife.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first black and Asian-American woman to hold this position, expressed their gratitude to South Carolina Democrats for their support. During his campaign in the state last week, Biden credited South Carolina for the defeat of Donald Trump, saying, “You are the reason we will win and defeat him again.”
Black voters interviewed during the recent early voting period cited a range of reasons for supporting Biden, from his administration’s defense of abortion rights to the appointment of black and minority rights advocates in the federal government.
Kamala Harris, vice president, Joe Biden’s running mate, speaks at the University of South Carolina during a campaign event (Anadolu Agency)
