Trump Wins South Carolina Primary, Bringing Him 1 Step Closer To GOP Nomination

CHARLESTON, S.C. ― Donald Trump easily won the South Carolina Republican presidential primary on Saturday, handing Nikki Haley an embarrassing defeat in her home state and bringing him one step closer to officially becoming the GOP’s 2024 nominee for the White House.

Trump’s victory in South Carolina was never really in doubt. The former president led in polls of the race for months despite doing little campaigning and spending only a small amount on advertising. He secured support from the state’s top elected officials as soon as he entered the race, finishing a near-clean sweep after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) dropped out and endorsed him last month.

Trump quickly claimed he had won overwhelmingly, speaking after several news organizations called the election in his favor moments after polls closed but before many vote tallies had been released.

“We won in a landslide,” Trump said, surrounded on the stage at his victory party by South Carolina state and federal politicians who had endorsed him. Trump’s RealClearPolitics average lead in polling ahead of Saturday gave him a 23.3-point cushion, though it was unclear early Saturday night if that would translate into his actual vote margin.

With big wins in all the early primary states, Trump now heads into Super Tuesday on March 5 ― when voters in 15 states and one U.S. territory go to the polls ― with a commanding delegate lead. His campaign expects to have the nomination locked up as early as March 12, even as he faces an unprecedented 91 criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn an election that he lost and his retention of classified information after he left the White House.

Trump’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin March 25 in New York, where he is