Former President Donald Trump was victorious in South Carolina’s GOP primary on Saturday in a night that provided several highlights and hints about where the 2024 presidential race is heading.
The South Carolina primary battle was called by Fox News for Trump moments after polls closed at 7 P.M. ET on Saturday night. Trump’s rapidly-called victory over former U.N. ambassador and former two-term South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state moves the former president another step closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination.
After the results were announced, Trump quickly took the stage to address his supporters.
“It’s an early evening and a fantastic evening,” Trump told a crowd gathered at the South Carolina state fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina.
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Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Celebrate for 15 minutes, but then we have to get back to work,” he added, referencing next week’s Michigan primary, and Super Tuesday on March 5 the following week.
In his speech, Trump did not mention Haley by name but did address President Joe Biden.
“We have a great family and we have incredible friends and we’re going to be up here on November 5th and we’re going to look at Joe Biden and we’re gonna look him right in the eye, he’s destroying our country, and we’re going to say, Joe you’re fired, get out, get out Joe, you’re fired,” Trump told the crowd.
Haley, who earned roughly 40% of the vote on Saturday compared to Trump’s 60%, gave a speech to her supporters after the race was called where she vowed to continue on.
Nikki Haley hosts a rally in Conway as part of her swing in the Palmetto State leading up to the State’s primary, in Conway SC, United States on January 28, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I’m a woman of my word,” Haley said. “I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
“We’re headed to Michigan tomorrow. And we’re headed to the Super Tuesday states throughout all of next week.”
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A new article from “The Atlantic” warned that House Democrats may vote against certifying former President Trump’s election if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t rule whether he is eligible for office before. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
The Haley campaign, who won the 7% independent voters by around 19 points on Saturday night, announced they were going up with a multi-million dollar national cable ad blitz ahead of Super Tuesday.
Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks. Among the states holding contests on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, and other big states like Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries on March 19. Polling in many of those states indicates Trump holding large leads over Haley.
The Trump campaign predicted in a memo this week that the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.
“Let’s see if it happens,” Haley quickly responded when asked by Fox News what she would do if Trump clinches the nomination next month.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report