United States President Joe Biden Saturday won the South Carolina Democratic primary, the first officially sanctioned race of the party’s nominating season, with returns showing him outpacing two other candidates, according to Edison Research.
The vote was closely watched due to concerns about Biden’s popularity, particularly among Black voters.
Edison Research predicted Biden win soon after polls closed at 7pm EST on Saturday and his margin of victory held steady as the night wore on, Reuters reported.
Biden won 116,266 votes, or 96.4% out of 120,643 casts, ahead of his main challengers — Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson. However, turnout failed to exceed expectations, with Democratic officials expecting between 100,000 and 200,000 total votes.
In a victory statement, the Biden campaign said: “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.
“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,” the campaign said in a statement.
Biden, an unpopular incumbent, is expected to win again with a significant majority in the upcoming US election on November 5.
Besides campaign fears that South Carolina’s heavily Black electorate might not be energised this time around, there were also doubts about his age and concerns about high consumer prices and security along the US-Mexican border.
