Highlights from the South Carolina Democratic primary:
- President Joe Biden won an early, decisive victory in South Carolina's primary, the first official contest in the Democratic presidential race.
- NBC News projects that Biden will also receive all 55 of the state's delegates. Rep. Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, the only other major Democratic presidential candidates, did not get 15% of the vote statewide or in any congressional district.
- The Democratic National Committee reshuffled its primary calendar to put South Carolina ahead of New Hampshire, which had historically held the first primary of the cycle.
Biden campaign to air an abortion-related ad during the Grammys
The Biden campaign is set to release a TV ad centered around reproductive rights, which will hit the airwaves during the Grammys tomorrow night.
The 30-second ad features a Texas woman who needed an abortion because of the fetus' fatal condition.
"I had to flee my own state to receive treatment," Dr. Austin Dennard, an OB-GYN in Dallas, says in the ad. "I think Donald Trump bears an incredible amount of responsibility for these restrictive laws."
"We need leaders who will protect our rights, and that's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," she adds. The ad never explicitly uses the word "abortion."
"Sharing stories like Dr. Austin Dennard’s — who because of Donald Trump was forced to flee the state of Texas to receive the abortion care her life depended on — during high viewership moments allows us to reach a general election audience with reminders of the stark choice they’ll face this November," Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.
More than 12 million people tuned in to the Grammys last year, according to Nielsen data.
Phillips acknowledges a 'whooping'
Dean Phillips, who will not receive any delegates from the South Carolina primary, acknowledged that he lost very badly to Biden. With 51% of the expected votes in, Phillips was at roughly 2% — a little over 1,200 votes.
"Congratulations, Mr. President, on a good old fashioned whooping," he wrote on X.
Rep. Nancy Mace explains why she backed Trump
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Trump has been endorsed by nearly every federal and statewide elected official in South Carolina. But perhaps no endorsement raised more eyebrows than that of Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
Yes, Mace had been deeply critical of the former president for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, leading him to back a primary challenger to her in 2022. But what made Mace’s endorsement more meaningful was that she had fended off that primary challenge with a big boost from none other than former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who campaigned and fundraised for her through the bitter contest with Mace’s Trump-endorsed rival.
Now, with Trump looking poised to trounce Haley throughout the Palmetto State, Mace is lending her hand to help keep Haley at bay. During a Trump campaign event just outside of Charleston, she compared Haley unfavorably with 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and suggested that if Haley had her way, she “would probably have spy balloons manufactured right here in South Carolina,” pointing to Haley’s friendly relations with China as governor.
Speaking with NBC News after the event, Mace said it was immigration that got her off the fence and into the Trump camp, adding though that she was also representing voters in her congressional district and state who she said were overwhelmingly backing Trump.
“He’s going to win it everywhere,” she said. “Even down here.”
Mace said she wanted to be “mindful and respectful” of the path that both Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who dropped out of the race last year, had to the nomination, given that both live within her district. But she sees no path for Haley now.
“In talking to voters on the ground in the last couple of weeks and months, it was very clear that he is stronger than ever before,” she said. “And the state is going to support him overwhelmingly. And it’s time to move on.”
She added that she had communicated her decision with Haley beforehand.
“I respect her,” she said. “I respected her as a governor. … Politics is a blood sport. This is not about her, this is about our country, and saving our country. And Donald Trump’s the only person that can do it. In my opinion. I’ve looked at the field, I’ve looked at the policies, I have looked at the precedent, and he’s the only one. And that’s why voters are overwhelmingly lining up behind him.”
Though she had initially come out hard against Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot, in the months that followed she opposed his impeachment and voted against establishing an independent commission to investigate it. She also filmed a video in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan talking up the policies he championed during his presidency.
She praised Haley at length during her 2022 campaign, calling her “a rock star” who had “become a good friend, a good mentor” and “a great leader for our nation.” During a fundraiser that year, Haley said Mace “will never let you down.”
After voting to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last year, allies of the ousted speaker are seeking to launch another primary effort targeting her. She did not sound worried.
“You’ve got mean girl Kevin McCarthy on a revenge tour,” she said. “And we’ll deal with it as it comes. But he picked a very weak candidate.”
All the delegates go to Biden
NBC News' Decision Desk projects that all 55 Democratic delegates in South Carolina will go to Biden.
Neither Williamson nor Phillips is projected to receive the necessary 15% of the vote statewide or in any congressional district.
Biden calls into the South Carolina celebration
COLUMBIA, S.C. — At the First in the Nation Celebration, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., just called on the DNC’s rules committee to find a way to “let those delegates up in New Hampshire” count during the convention.
Clyburn also called Biden during the event, and it was projected so that everyone in the room could hear. The president's first comment was, “What kind of turnout did you have?” Neither Clyburn nor DNC Chair Jaime Harrison was able to answer that question yet.
Biden then thanked the crowd for supporting him, telling the audience, “You’re not getting rid of me, I’m coming back.”
Biden wins South Carolina Democratic primary
NBC News projects that Biden has won the South Carolina Democratic primary, with 2% of the votes that have been counted so far.
Polls closed
Polls closed at 7 p.m. in South Carolina, where Biden is on the ballot for the first time in 2024.
Black voters express enthusiasm about voting for Biden
Black voters in South Carolina told NBC News they were enthusiastic to vote for Biden in today's primary, dismissing concerns that the president was losing support within the key demographic.
"He has done marvelous thing throughout the years that he was in there, and I’m very excited and blessed for him," Gwennett Smith, a South Carolina voter, told NBC News.
Haley Hall, also a South Carolina voter, agreed, saying, "I think we’re probably making too much about" the idea that there's a lack of excitement for Biden among Black voters.
"I think Joe Biden is doing a great job with all the things that he’s done, whether it’s the economy or improving relationships internationally. I think he’s done a lot for us, and I want to share my support for him," he said.
NBC News polling in 2023 found that Black voters overall favored Biden over Trump 73% to 17%. But when it came to voters under the age of 34, the margin shrank. Among that slice of the Black electorate, Biden’s support fell to 60%; Trump’s rose to 28%.
The South Carolina Democratic primary is underway. Rep. Jim Clyburn joins “The Weekend” to weigh in on the Biden-Harris campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts and more.
South Carolina Democrats: Biden is the best candidate to face off against Trump
Democrats voting in today’s South Carolina primary view Biden as the best chance to defeat Trump in a hypothetical matchup in the November election.
Multiple voters who spoke with NBC News in Greenville pointed to Biden’s electability and his handling on key issues including immigration, health care and the economy.
Justice Pinkney, 20, is a first-time voter who cast his ballot for Biden and specifically pointed to the “divide” he believes a Trump presidency would bring.
“I just think this country is divided,” Pinkney said. “I really wish we could come together more. There’s so much hate and negativity. I just really think Trump isn’t doing anything for it.”
Steve Compton, a resident of the Greenville area for over 30 years, cites Trump’s handling in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riots as incentive not to vote for him, calling him a “traitor.”
“Well, to put it bluntly, [Trump’s] a traitor,” Compton said. “He violated the Constitution on Jan. 6, encouraging that mob to to decertify the election and I don’t think we can have anybody like that in office.”
But Katelyn B., who recently moved to Greenville from Arizona, states having another 2020 matchup between Trump and Biden would concern her.
“I’d be lying if I said no,” said Katelyn. “I definitely think 2020 was a stressful year in general for everyone with the election, with Covid, and so I’d like to have some faith in our candidates so they can do their administrative and presidential duties with minimal of everything else that happened in 2020.”
Polling indicates a potential rematch between Biden and Trump would be very close.