Feb 24, 2024,07:05pm EST
TOPLINE: In Saturday’s primary, former President Donald Trump defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, dealing a significant blow to her already challenging candidacy in her home state and positioning himself to secure the Republican nomination as early as next month.
KEY FACTS:
- The Associated Press declared Trump the winner as soon as the polls closed at 7 p.m.
- Trump’s victory sets him on a trajectory to surpass the 1,215-delegate threshold required to clinch the nomination by March 12, as estimated by his campaign earlier this week.
- South Carolina allocates 50 delegates: 29 to the overall state winner and 21 distributed to the winner of each of the state’s seven counties.
KEY BACKGROUND:
- Trump was anticipated to outpace Haley by a substantial margin in South Carolina, with FiveThirtyEight’s polling average projecting a 30-point lead for Trump.
- Haley, who served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017 before resigning to become the United Nations ambassador under Trump’s administration, remains determined to stay in the race at least until Super Tuesday on March 5. Despite losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and now South Carolina, she insists on offering voters an alternative choice between Trump and Biden, whom she has characterized as “grumpy old men.”
BIG NUMBER:
- Prior to Saturday’s primary, Trump had secured 63 delegates, compared to Haley’s 17. His campaign anticipates that he could secure the nomination by March 12, coinciding with GOP primaries in Hawaii, Washington, Mississippi, and Georgia. To secure the nomination, candidates must secure the majority of the 2,249 GOP delegates at stake, although the official nominee won’t be determined until delegates vote at the Republican National Convention in July.
TANGENT:
- In the first official Democratic primary contest of the 2024 election cycle, Biden emerged victorious in South Carolina on Feb. 3. The upcoming contest in Michigan on Tuesday will feature both GOP and Democratic primaries.