US President Joe Biden cruised to victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, a vote that tested his support among black voters and independents — and might impact former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s push to defeat former US president Donald Trump in the Republican contest in three weeks.
News organizations including the Associated Press and NBC called the race for Biden about 23 minutes after polls closed on Saturday evening. The race was called as Biden attended a US presidential election campaign meeting in Los Angeles.
Biden only faced long-shot challengers — Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson — but the victory, following a write-in win in New Hampshire last month, could help him ease doubts about his reelection bid amid concerns from voters over his age and economic agenda.
Photo: Reuters
Minutes after the contest was called, Biden’s campaign issued a statement by the president touting his economic record and recalling that South Carolina voters “who proved the pundits wrong” revived his 2020 candidacy and set him on the path to the White House.
Biden was running at almost 97 percent support with 20 percent of votes counted, the AP reported.
A decisive win helps Biden undercut claims from critics that the Democratic base is unenthusiastic about the 81-year-old US president’s campaign for a second term.
Biden used the primary to court black voters, a bloc whose support is to be crucial in November, but whose frustrations with his administration on key issues such as voting rights, police reform and student-debt relief, imperil his reelection hopes.
The campaign insisted in the run-up to the primary that it was not taking black voter support for granted, with Biden, US Vice President Kamala Harris and US first lady Jill Biden all traveling there last month. The Democratic National Committee launched an advertising blitz targeting black, rural and young voters, and the US president’s operation deployed key surrogates, led by US Representative Jim Clyburn, a staunch ally.
In a speech a week before the primary, Biden cited the economic advances black voters have made under his administration, warning those gains would be reversed under Trump.
Trump leads the president among voters in seven key swing states that are to help determine US presidential election in November, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll showed.
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