South Carolina’s Republican primary: What to watch as Haley tries to upset Trump in her home state

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley ‘s best-case scenario for her home state’s Republican primary might be to do well enough to make the March 5 Super Tuesday slate somewhat competitive against Donald Trump.

An upset in South Carolina, though, is a longshot in a state where Republicans like their former governor but love the former president.

Trump is looking to complete an early state sweep after scoring big wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. For Haley, who was twice elected South Carolina governor and then served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, she has a chance to narrow the margin and dampen Trump’s momentum.

Here’s a look at what to watch in Saturday’s primary.

Can Donald Trump deliver another home-state knockout?

Nikki Haley circled Feb. 24 on her calendar months ago. Her bid always hinged on building support through the first three contests and then, as she told voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, winning “my sweet state of South Carolina.”

She has recalibrated recently. Rather than predict victory, she talks of how far she’s come and promises to continue to Super Tuesday. “There were 14 candidates in this race,” she says. “I’ve defeated 12 of the fellas, and I have just one more to catch up to.”

Trump shrugs it off, predicting at a Fox News town hall that he would win “bigly.”

“Everybody knows you can’t lose your home state,” he said.

There’s a certain déjà vu to it all that should give Haley pause. In 2016, three Trump rivals made home-turf primaries their points of pride. Two even won: then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump sailed to the nomination anyway.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, meanwhile, stuck around until his home-state primary, which followed Trump’s Super Tuesday domination. Rubio got thrashed