Edited by Deepali Verma
President Joe Biden with great ease won South Carolina’s Democratic primary on February 3, clinching a state he pushed to lead off his party’s nominating process after it revived his then-struggling White House bid four years ago.
Biden managed to defeat the other long-shot Democrats on South Carolina’s ballot such as Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson. His reelection campaign was rooted in driving up turnout in what it saw as a test drive of its efforts to mobilise Black voters, a key Democratic bloc that is pivotal to Biden’s chances in a likely November rematch against the former President Donald Trump.
“In 2020, the voters of South Carolina were responsible for proving the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and put us on the path to winning the presidency,” said Biden in a statement. “The people of South Carolina in 2024 have spoken again and there is no doubt that they have set us on the path to winning the Presidency again. Thereby, making Donald Trump a loser — again.”
The Associated Press made Biden known as the winner at 7:23 p.m. regarding an analysis of initial vote results showing him with a decisive lead in key locations spanning across the state.
His win comes at a time where he led a Democratic National Committee effort to have South Carolina go first in the party’s primary, quoting the diverse population available in the state compared to the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which is largely overwhelmingly white.
South Carolina is reliably Republican, having Blacks as his 26% of its residents. The general election held in 2020 saw Black voters make up 11% of the national electorate, and 9 in 10 of them supported Biden, as per AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of that election’s voters.
Biden pressed for a revamped primary calendar that will have Nevada go second, holding its primary on February 6. Additionally, the new order moves the Democratic primary in Michigan, a large and diverse swing state, to Feb. 27, before the expansive field of states voting on March 5, known as Super Tuesday.
New Hampshire rejected the DNC’s plan and conducted the leadoff primary last month anyway. Biden didn’t indulge in campaigning and his name wasn’t on the ballot either. However, he still managed to win by a sizable margin once supporters mounted a write-in campaign on his behalf.
South Carolina is a place where Biden has long held deep relationships with supporters and donors. It also played a crucial role in his 2020 campaign, where a big victory helped revive a flagging effort in other early-voting states and propelled him to the nomination.
Biden was extended a helping hand by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose 2020 endorsement served as a long-awaited signal to the state’s Black voters that Biden would be the right fit to advocate for their interests.
Clyburn believes that New Hampshire’s delegates should be seated at the party’s convention this summer and that Democrats should not hold off any further infighting.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve in the role, have consistently expressed their gratitude to the state’s Democrats for their support. Biden recently told the attendees at a state party fundraiser that “you’re the reason I am president.” He also told the audience of hundreds of parties about how faithful they were and “the reason Donald Trump is a loser. You’re the reason we will emerge victorious and beat him again,” framing the likely general election matchup with the GOP’s current front-runner.
In Columbia, which is the capital of South Carolina, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison remarked, “We all know that we, because of this colour, we, our great grandparents, our grandparents, could not always vote here.” Harrison is a South Carolina Black native.
“For this president to say, ‘Jaime, we have started this process in Iowa and New Hampshire, and now, we’re going to go ahead with it in South Carolina’ — no other president has ever decided to touch that issue,” he added. “However, Joe Biden did, and I am beyond thankful to the president for giving us a chance, recognising us, and understanding how much we matter.”
During an interview, the Black voters listed a range of reasons for supporting Biden, that started right from his administration’s defence of abortion rights to appointing Black jurists as well as other minorities to the federal courts. Some also pointed out Biden’s warnings that Trump would threaten democracy as he continues to push lies that the 2020 vote was stolen.
Some voters held the concern about the 81-year-old Biden’s age, as many Americans have said they are in public polling. Trump is 77. Both men have been a part of a series of public flubs that have fueled scepticism about their readiness.
