US: President Biden set to win first official Democratic primary in South Carolina

South Carolina [US], February 4 (ANI): US President Joe Biden is set to win the South Carolina primary on Saturday, CNN projected, adding that the state that launched him to the Democratic nomination four years ago will deliver the president his first official primary victory of the 2024 campaign.

In a result largely expected, Biden is tipped to defeat his two nearest challengers, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, claiming his first delegates in his quest to win his party’s nomination again.

According to CNN, Biden is projected to win all 55 delegates at stake in the South Carolina primary.

This year marks the first time South Carolina has appeared at the front of the official Democratic nominating calendar–a change made largely due to Biden’s urging, The Washington Post reported.

Biden, who was in Los Angeles for a fundraising event Saturday evening when his win was projected, said in a statement that South Carolina put him on a path toward victory.

“In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and set us on the path to winning the Presidency,” he said, adding, “Now in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the Presidency again — and making Donald Trump a loser — again.”

Earlier, Biden backed the unprecedented move to make South Carolina the first voting state over New Hampshire, part of his effort to promote diverse voices in early Democratic primaries.

Though Biden won the January primary in New Hampshire through a write-in campaign launched by his supporters, he did not receive any actual delegates there, since the Democratic Party did not officially sanction that contest. His victory in South Carolina, therefore, is his first official primary win.

Expectations for Biden in the Palmetto State were high. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), one of the president’s most important allies in Congress, said success for Biden would translate to at least “seventy per cent” of the voter turnout, according to The New York Times.

“I hope we get 150,000 people to vote, and of the 150 to 200,000 people, I would like to see Joe Biden get 70, 75 per cent of that,” Clyburn told the outlet.

The Hill reported that Biden’s win shows that the energy he focused on New Hampshire paid off. While South Carolina likely won’t be a battleground in the general election, his victory could help energize Democrats ahead of November. Biden travelled to South Carolina twice in January and deployed first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Harris to the state to rally voters.

It also further undercut arguments from primary challengers, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and author Marianne Williamson, who have criticized Biden over the enthusiasm from the base for him and his lingering challenges, like his age and approval rating.

South Carolina was a major state for Biden in 2020 and his focus on it during his first term looked like a way to pay back voters there for helping him secure the nomination. His campaign was considered all but over until he won the South Carolina primary, which came after a pivotal endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), The Hill reported.

Biden, who was in Los Angeles for a fundraising event Saturday evening when his win was projected, said in a statement that South Carolina put him on a path toward victory.

“In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and set us on the path to winning the Presidency,” he said, adding, “Now in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the Presidency again — and making Donald Trump a loser, again.”

For decades, Iowa and New Hampshire had cast the first votes in Democratic presidential primary battles. But the Democratic National Committee decided to move those states back in the calendar in the face of criticism that their largely White electorates didn’t reflect a Democratic base that is much more diverse nationally, CNN reported.

Iowa Democratic officials accepted the changes, opting to hold a mail-in caucus with ballots sent to voters starting January 12 and due to be postmarked back by March 5, Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen other states are scheduled to hold their primaries.

New Hampshire officials, citing a state law requiring that its primary be the nation’s first, pushed back, holding a rogue Democratic contest alongside the Republican primary on January 23.

However, the Democratic National Committee punished the Granite State by stripping it of delegates to the party’s 2024 convention. Because the state did not comply with the calendar the DNC had set, Biden didn’t file to appear on the state’s primary ballot. But loyalists of the President launched a successful write-in campaign on his behalf that saw him take 64 per cent of the vote.