INDIAN LAND, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump won South Carolina, his fourth consecutive state, in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, defeating Nikki Haley in her home state by 20 points.
Trump received the most votes of any presidential candidate of either party in the history of South Carolina’s presidential primaries — 451,905 (59.8%) to Haley’s 298,674 (39.5%).
Fox News called the election for Trump at 7:02 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, two minutes after polling closed. The Associated Press had already called it for Trump as polls closed at 7 p.m.
“This was a little sooner than we anticipated and an even bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump said during his victory speech in Columbia.
Trump is expected to get 47 of the state’s 50 GOP delegates, while Haley will get three.
The former president received 9,471 votes (60.5%) in Lancaster County to Haley’s 6,067 (38.8%).
A total of 15,643 Lancaster County voters (23.6%) turned out for the GOP primary, compared to 2,704 (3%) for the Democratic primary Feb. 3. Local turnout Saturday was slightly higher than the state’s, which was 23.3%.
The two other candidates still in the GOP race — Ryan L. Binkley and David Stuckenberg — each received less than 0.1% of the vote in the state and county. Binkley getting 527 votes in the state and nine votes in the county, and Stuckenberg getting 360 votes in the state and five in the county.
The three candidates who had already withdrawn fared better Saturday, with Ron DeSantis pulling in 0.4% of the vote statewide with 2,957 votes, including 60 in Lancaster county. Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy each received less than 0.1% of the vote in the state and county, with Christie getting 657 votes in the state and 14 votes in the county, and Ramaswamy getting 726 votes in the state and 17 in the county.
Local polls
At The Lodge in Sun City Carolina Lakes, where the county’s two largest precincts both voted Saturday, voters waited 30-45 minutes in long lines from midday to early afternoon to cast their ballots.
Some voters there spoke with concern about the direction of the country and President Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
Sun City residents Doug and Linda Sobey both see the 2024 election as “critical.” The Sobeys believe the Department of Justice has been weaponized under the Biden administration against Trump for political purposes.
“The Department of Justice has proven to be corrupt,” Doug said. “It is a two-tier justice system that we have now.”
Homer Williams, 91, said he voted for Trump for the third time since Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016.
Williams is worried about the rise in illegal immigration.
“He (Trump) is going to close the border on Day One,” Williams said. “The country is no longer reminiscent of the place I grew up in. I think Trump can help us get back, and he’s going to do so by kicking the people of Washington around.”
Both Sun City Republicans and Democrats came out to support Haley, a two-term former South Carolina governor.
Trump won 33 of the county’s 36 precincts, but the three with the largest turnouts — The Lodge, The Lake House and Harrisburg, all in Indian Land — went for Haley.
She received 62.5% of the vote at The Lodge, 56.6% at The Lake House and 50.6% at Harrisburg, for a total of 2,009 votes in those three precincts to Trump’s 1,473.
S.C. District 44 Rep. Mike Neese visited The Lodge and greeted constituents as they walked up to the clubhouse to vote.
Neese endorsed Haley and has campaigned with her across the state over the last month, including her bus stop rally in Sun City last week.
The Lodge voter Daniel Reyes, 66, has voted Republican for 50 years and voted for Trump twice, but he cast his ballot Saturday for Haley.
“We need a healer, not a divider,” Reyes said. “I liked what Trump did in office, but we need less conflict, less division. Haley is more of a leader.”
A retired business owner who asked to remain anonymous said he is a Democrat, but wanted to vote for Haley as he saw it as a more strategic, anti-Trump vote.
Haley has vowed to continue her campaign through Super Tuesday on March 5, when voters in 15 states and American Samoa head to the polls to vote in the Republican primary.
Trump is ahead of Haley in every state voting on Super Tuesday, according to polling.
GOP questions
All three advisory questions on the Republican primary ballots were approved by voters Saturday.
1. Should South Carolina law be changed to give people the right to register to vote with the political party of their choice? Across the state, 73% of voters said yes, while 76% of Lancaster County voters said yes.
2. Should South Carolina adopt reforms to increase the independence and accountability of our judiciary by improving transparency and reducing conflicts of interest in the process of reviewing judicial qualifications and electing judges. Across the state and in the county, 91% of voters said yes.
3. Should it be an immediate legislative priority to protect South Carolina’s competitiveness and small businesses by changing state law so that a person’s responsibility for financial damages in a lawsuit is based on that person’s actual share of responsibility? Across the state, 88% of voters said yes, while 89% of county voters said yes.
