Former President Donald Trump emerged victorious in the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday in a night that provided several highlights and clues about where the 2024 presidential race is headed.
Fox News called the South Carolina primary battle for Trump moments after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET Saturday night. Trump's quick victory over the former UN ambassador and former two-term governor of South Carolina. nikki haley in her home state brings the former president one step closer to the Republican nomination for 2024.
After the results were announced, Trump quickly took the stage to address his supporters.
“It's a fantastic afternoon,” Trump told a crowd gathered at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina.
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Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Let's celebrate for 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work,” he added, referencing next week's Michigan primary and the following week's March 5 Super Tuesday.
In his speech, Trump did not mention Haley by name but did address President Joe Biden.
“We have a great family and we have amazing friends and we're going to be here on November 5th and we're going to look at Joe Biden and we're going to look him right in the eyes, he's destroying our country. and we're going to say, Joe, you're fired, get out, get out Joe, you're fired fired,” Trump told the crowd.
Haley, who won about 40% of the vote Saturday compared to Trump's 60%, gave a speech to supporters after the race was called and vowed to continue.
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Nikki Haley hosts a rally in Conway as part of her Palmetto State tour ahead of the state's primary, in Conway SC, USA, on January 28, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I'm a woman of my word,” Haley said. “I'm not going to give up this fight when the majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
“Tomorrow we head to Michigan. And we head to the Super Tuesday states all next week.”
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A new article from “The Atlantic” warned that House Democrats could vote against certifying former President Trump's election if the U.S. Supreme Court does not first rule on whether he is eligible for office. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Haley's campaign, which won 7% of independent voters by about 19 points Saturday night, announced they would launch a multimillion-dollar national cable ad campaign ahead of Super Tuesday.
Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, and more than 150 up for grabs over the next two weeks. Among the states holding competitions on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, and other large states such as Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries March 19th. Polls in many of those states indicate that Trump has a big lead over Haley.
Trump's campaign predicted in a memo this week that the former president would clinch the nomination on March 19, even under a “more generous model” for Haley.
“Let's see if it happens,” Haley quickly responded when Fox News asked her what she would do if Trump wins the nomination next month.
Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
