Donald Trump wins South Carolina Republican primary

Donald Trump has cruised to a decisive victory, blitzing rival Nikki Haley in her home state, and continuing his march to the nomination and a White House rematch with Joe Biden.

Donald Trump won the South Carolina Republican presidential primary Saturday evening, defeating Nikki Haley in her home state and delivering his latest blow to her long-shot bid to block him from becoming the party’s nominee.

The Associated Press called the race for Trump just after polls closed, further propelling him toward a historic rematch with President Biden in November’s election and increasing pressure on Haley to drop out. With 65% of the estimated vote tabulated, Trump led Haley, 60.9% to 38.5%.

Decisive Trump wins in the first three major nominating contests - Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada - had already given the former president an air of inevitability.

Trump spoke to supporters at a party minutes after the election was called, not letting Haley claim victory from a loss, as she did in earlier voting states. He didn’t mention her in his remarks, projecting himself as a general election candidate.

“We’re going to say ‘Joe, you’re fired. Get out Joe, you’re fired.’ ”

In a speech to her supporters in Charleston, a still defiant Haley said she would continue campaigning and portrayed her estimated vote share as a reason to stay in the race.

“I’m an accountant. I know 40% is not 50%,” she said. “But I also know 40% is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative.”

Haley pledged to stay in the race through at least March 5 when more than a third of delegates will be awarded by 15 states holding Super Tuesday contests.

Before his victory Saturday, Trump’s campaign called for her to exit from the race, as it has done since the Iowa caucuses started the nomination process on Jan. 15.

“Nikki Haley should do the only honorable thing and that’s drop out,” senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita said ahead of the results, noting she was raising money from Democrats “who want to keep her in to do nothing but do Joe Biden’s dirty work.” Trump campaigned Friday in South Carolina, giving a speech in Columbia in which he said Black voters are more drawn to him because of the criminal indictments and his mug shot. The former president faces 91 criminal charges for matters including his handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“A lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump said.

Haley said earlier Saturday that Trump’s remarks, given to the Black Conservative Federation, were “disgusting” and reiterated why voters should choose her. “That’s the offensiveness that’s going to happen every day between now and the general election,” she said.

The AP VoteCast survey of GOP primary voters in the state showed strength for Trump, with more than two-thirds holding a favorable view of him and close to two-thirds saying they would be satisfied with him as the party’s nominee. Roughly six in 10 voters said they consider themselves to be part of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

The polling of those who cast ballots in the GOP primary showed more than two-thirds consider themselves conservative, while about a quarter said they are moderate and 6% identify as liberal.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) stopped short of calling for Haley to get out of the race, but said she has zero chance of being the nominee.

“After tonight, what’s the narrative? Republicans have made up their minds: It’s Trump,” said Graham, who is close to Trump and endorsed him early on. “We’re not listening anymore.” The former president’s team expects him to secure enough delegates to become the nominee officially sometime in March. His legal problems remain a major unknown as he moves toward the general election, presenting scheduling and financial burdens. In 2023, his legal fees reached roughly $50 million.

While the cases have led many Republicans to rally around Trump, polls show some GOP voters could change their minds if he is convicted in one of the four criminal cases. Still, hypothetical polls show Trump close to or beating Biden.

Bruce Brownlee, 73, a data scientist from Johns Island, voted for Trump Saturday because “he’s the only one who can tear down the administrative state and reform it to be a useful part of society.” He described Haley as “another big government RINO,” referring to the term used to describe a Republican in Name Only.

Cara Bibbiani, 46, who works in mergers and acquisitions, voted for Haley at her Johns Island polling place Saturday. “I like that she’s reasonable, I like that she can cross the aisle, I like that she can bring people together,” said Bibbiani, an independent who leans Republican. She said she hopes to be able to support Haley in a general election, but if Trump wins the nomination, she will back Biden.

When Haley announced her bid more than a year ago, Trump looked politically weaker among Republicans and her native state’s early slot on the GOP nomination calendar seemed like a strength for her.

She had set her own benchmark -- garnering 43% of the vote -- for her South Carolina performance. That was her vote share in last month’s New Hampshire’s primary and she has said she needs to keep increasing her proportion in subsequent contests.

Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist, offered a guess at Haley’s endgame. “I think she’s running for ‘President of the United States of I Told You So,’” he said. “She’s hoping for Trump to lose to Biden -- again -- and perhaps a future where the GOP realizes the error of its ways and rebuilds around her.” Haley is expected to arrive Sunday evening in Michigan, which holds its primary Tuesday. Her team has announced stops in other states, including Minnesota, Colorado and Virginia.

Her campaign has booked television ads in Michigan and is planning a “seven-figure” national cable and digital buy ahead of Super Tuesday.

As his last major remaining rival, Haley has sharpened her attacks on Trump in recent weeks. She suggests he is too old for the presidency, burdened by the criminal prosecutions and not hawkish enough when it comes to Russia.

Some have said Haley should have started attacking Trump sooner, criticism she dismissed Saturday. “If I had done that, in the beginning, I would have been a Chris Christie,” she said while the polls were still open, referring to the former New Jersey governor who made much of his bid about attacking Trump and dropped out before voting began.

The Wall Street Journal