Former President Donald Trump will win South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, CNN projects, further tightening his grip on the nomination and leaving his last remaining major rival, Nikki Haley, to consider her dwindling options.
The former president has swept all GOP nominating contests to date, first beating the field by large margins in Iowa and New Hampshire, before cleaning up in Nevada, where Haley didn’t appear on the ballot, and in the US Virgin Islands.
But his romp in South Carolina, which twice elected Haley its governor, might be his most impressive of this campaign.
“This was a little sooner than we anticipated, and even bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump told a crowd at his election night watch party in Columbia shortly after being projected the winner.
Flanked onstage by a who’s who of Palmetto State political leaders, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Tim Scott, Trump declared, “I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now.”
While Scott’s fellow South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham, was booed at Trump’s event, Scott was welcomed to the podium by wild cheers. He has emerged, since dropping out of the primary and endorsing Trump, as one of the former president’s favorite surrogates and a potential running mate.
“South Carolina is Trump country,” Scott declared to the delighted crowd.
Saturday’s result now places the onus on Haley, who doubled down earlier this week in a speech, declaring, “I’m not going anywhere.”
The next stop on the GOP nominating calendar is Michigan, where Republicans will vote in a primary Tuesday. After a few more scattered contests, March 5 will bring Super Tuesday – and an opportunity for Trump to draw even…
Read the full article here