Former US President Donald Trump scored another decisive victory in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primary, defeating former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in his home state of South Carolina.
The Associated Press and other US media outlets quickly declared Trump the winner of the state's Republican primary shortly after polls closed Saturday night.
Final results have not yet been released, but Trump was leading 59.7 percent to 39.7 percent with about half the expected votes counted, according to Edison Research.
Speaking to supporters at an election night party in the state capital of Columbia, the former president turned his attention to the November general election and promised that if he is re-elected, the United States would be “respected like never before.”
“There has never been a spirit like this,” Trump said. “He's never seen the Republican Party as united as it is now.”
The former president has maintained a strong grip on the Republican caucus despite facing a series of civil and criminal cases against him, sweeping every state race so far.
Trump's victory in South Carolina also makes it increasingly likely that he will face a rematch against his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden, in November.
Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, reporting from South Carolina on Saturday, noted that Trump didn't even mention Haley's name during his victory speech.
“That will be the policy in the future,” Rattansi said. “This is all about Biden.”
But Haley, who was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, has pledged to continue her campaign at least until the Super Tuesday election on March 5. That's the day 15 states and one U.S. territory hold their primaries.
“I said earlier this week that no matter what happened in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president,” Haley said in a speech to supporters in Charleston after her defeat. “I am a woman of my word.”
Her commitment to continue sparked chants of “Nikki! Nikki! from the crowd.
“I'm not going to give up this fight when the majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” Haley added.
“South Carolina has spoken; we are the fourth state to do so. In the next 10 days, another 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real election, not a Soviet-style election with a single candidate. And I have a duty to give them that option.”
Haley said she plans to travel to Michigan on Sunday, just days before that state's Republican primary on Feb. 27. Next, her campaign will focus its attention on Super Tuesday states, including Minnesota, Vermont and Colorado.
But the former U.N. ambassador has no real path to winning the GOP nomination, and the party has largely sided with Trump.
Even in her home state, Haley struggled to gain high-profile political endorsements. Only one Republican representative from South Carolina, Ralph Norman, endorsed her against Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump celebrated his victory in South Carolina with a line of his supporters, including South Carolina's two senators, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, as well as the state's governor.
He had arrived in South Carolina shortly after giving a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the country.
Many of his comments there focused on Biden. In his 90-minute speech, Trump accused the president of overseeing the country's decline.
He added that if he defeats Biden in November, it will represent a “day of reckoning” for the United States and its “last and absolute revenge.”
For his part, Biden has warned that the former Republican president also poses a threat to the country.
Last month, Biden characterized Trump and his supporters as dangerous outliers. The Democratic president called on his party, independents and “mainstream Republicans” who value American democracy to support him.
“Democracy is at the polls. “Your freedom is on the ballot,” Biden said.
Trump faces four separate criminal charges, including two related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, a race he lost to Biden.
His first criminal trial – on charges of falsifying business documents in connection with hush payments – is scheduled to begin March 25 in New York City.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in all the cases and has said they are part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
