South Carolina primary 2024: Trump projected to win, Haley vows to stay in the race
What can we take away from Trump's big Palmetto State victory?
Former President Donald Trump has won the South Carolina Republican primary, ABC News projects. It was a swift and embarrassing defeat for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who rose to political prominence as South Carolina’s governor. Nevertheless, in her concession speech, Haley vowed to continue her campaign into Super Tuesday on March 5.
Throughout the evening, 538 reporters, analysts and contributors broke down the results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.
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Spite might be a good reason, too
Nathaniel, I think that another explanation for Haley’s continued presence in the race is less political and more personal. Clearly, the two candidates don’t get along, and never really have. (Remember that the only reason Trump even tapped Haley as ambassador was as a favor to then-Lt. Gov. McMaster.) With the race getting increasingly chippy and personal, I think Haley may be staying in for longer than politically savvy because she knows just how much it gets under Trump’s skin. This is, after all, a politician who sells shirts that say "Go ahead and underestimate me, that’ll be fun."
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
I think that’s right, Kaleigh
It was pretty clear Trump was going to be the nominee after New Hampshire. I think maybe Haley could be forgiven for trying to stay in for a couple more weeks to see if she could move the needle in South Carolina, a state she knows so well. But after it was clear that Trump’s polling lead wasn’t shrinking, she lost any practical justification for staying in the race.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Trump speaks early in the night in South Carolina
Shortly after quickly being projected the winner, Trump took to the stage and thanked his supporters. He said his victory tonight would be repeated in November, when they'd gather to tell Biden he was fired. Nine months is a long time to wait, he said, and he asked Gov. Henry McMaster, who was on the stage with him, if there was anything he could do to speed it up. "In certain countries, you're allowed to call your election date," he said, and added he would speed it up if he could. Rather than give a long speech himself, though, he shared the stage with McMaster and the states two Senators, Graham and Scott, who both condemned Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Scott was until recently trying to oust Trump as the presumptive nominee, but Trump said he'd done a better job advocating for him than he had for himself. "I'm just very happy he didn’t have that same energy, drive because I probably would have been out of the race a long time ago," Trump said. Scott took to the stage and asked in a country growl, "Is South Carolina Trump country???" fully in campaign mode. The crowd booed Graham, who spoke flatteringly of Trump regardless.
—Monica Potts, 538
But, Nathaniel…
Was there any point besides principle in Haley staying in up until tonight? The writing has been on the wall for weeks, and getting trounced in her home state is a humiliation she could have spared herself. This obviously just makes the inevitable even more apparent, but if she didn’t drop out after New Hampshire, what’s a couple more weeks on principle? (Assuming she has enough money to continue campaigning through Super Tuesday, that is.)
—Kaleigh Rogers, 538
That's a wrap!
As of 9:20 p.m., 70 percent of the expected vote is reporting in South Carolina, and Trump is leading Haley by 20 points. It’s a decisive victory for the former president, as expected, though a somewhat smaller margin than his average lead in the polls heading into today (around 28 points).
Haley’s margin of defeat, though, looks even larger when it comes to delegates: Under South Carolina’s delegate allocation system, over half the state’s 50 delegates are awarded to the statewide winner, while the rest are awarded by congressional district. It looks like the maximum delegates Haley could walk away with in her home state tonight is three, if she holds onto her lead in the 1st District.
Despite this, Haley proclaimed in her speech that tonight’s result demonstrated her home state’s frustration with the country’s direction and reiterated her promise to stay in the race.
And on that note ... We hope to see you back here for our Super Tuesday live blog on March 5! We're gearing up for an eventful night tracking not only the presidential race in 15 states (and one territory) but a slew of down-ballot primaries in Senate, House and gubernatorial races as well.
—Tia Yang, 538