U.S. President Joe Biden reacts as he attends the opening of Biden’s campaign office for president in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., February 3, 2024.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
President Joe Biden won a landslide victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, where voters sent a clear message that they are ready for Biden to run in November’s election.
As of 12 a.m. ET on Sunday, Biden had won 96.2% of votes cast, with 97% of total votes counted.
The other two Democrats on the ballot, House Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and self-help author and 2020 Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson each won about 2% of the vote.
The victory gives new momentum to Biden’s reelection campaign and offers a compelling rebuttal to the narrative that Democratic voters are ambivalent — or worse — about their party’s standard-bearer.
“In 2020, it was South Carolina voters who proved the experts wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and put us on the path to winning the presidency,” Biden said in a statement after Saturday’s results.
“Now, in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again and I have no doubt that you have put us on the path to winning the presidency – and making Donald Trump a loser – again.”
Biden will receive all 55 of the state’s Democratic delegates, NBC News projects, as neither Williamson nor Phillips has crossed the 15% threshold for awarding delegates.
Biden’s overwhelming margin of victory left no doubt about who Democratic voters want to be on the November ballot.
But it came amid reports of lower-than-expected turnout, potentially a sign of weakening enthusiasm for Biden among Democrats.
In 2020, about 16% of the state’s 3.3 million registered voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary. On Saturday, that number dropped to about 4% of voters.
In particular, polls have shown Biden’s support declining among black voters, a core bloc of the Democratic party that was key to his 2020 victory.
Black voters make up the majority of the Democratic electorate in South Carolina, so his victory on Saturday could help alleviate some of those concerns.
Biden’s campaign has also been under pressure to build momentum, a real challenge this year as the Democrats’ official primary season got off to a late start.
In Iowa, the Democratic Party decided not to vote in their caucuses, denying Biden a chance to win there.
In New Hampshire, Biden’s name was not on the formal ballot, but he won the contest as a write-in candidate with 64% of the vote.
Republicans will vote in their party’s primary on Feb. 24, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will try to pull off an upset in her home state against former President Donald Trump.
The Republican primary is expected to garner much higher turnout and greater attention than Saturday’s vote.
Unlike the Republican battle, the Democratic primaries have so far stood out for their civility.
“Congratulations, Mr. President, on the good old shout,” Phillips wrote on X.