Polls close in South Carolina Democratic primary
It’s 7pm, and polls have closed in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary.
Joe Biden is expected to win in a landslide, as incumbent presidents typically do. We’ll let you know how big his victory is, and whether there are any signs of Democrats supporting the candidacies of Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, or staying home altogether.
Key events
We expect the Associated Press to, at any moment, call South Carolina’s Democratic primary for Joe Biden. In the meantime, here’s what the Guardian’s David Smith saw on the ground today in Columbia, as voting was under way:
As predicted, South Carolina’s Democratic primary Saturday is proving to be a low-key affair – but that hasn’t stopped Joe Biden from trying to boost turnout.
The president posted a video on the social media platform X in which he said simply: “South Carolina, go vote today!” Biden also made a stop at his 2024 campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, alongside his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
Nearly seven in 10 voters have said they plan to vote for Biden during Saturday’s primary, a recent Emerson College poll found. Challengers Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson were polling at about 5% and 3%, respectively. Three in 10 South Carolina voters were expected to take part in the primary.
At least a handful of those who turned out to cast ballots did so despite encountering election day complications.
People with plans to vote at the Arsenal Hill Center in Columbia were confronted with a sign informing them the polling place had been moved to the Earlewood Park Community Centre a mile and a half away.
At the community centre in question, fewer than a hundred people had voted by noon. When one man was asked whether he had come to vote, he replied: “No – I’m here to play tennis.”
But voters for Biden did include Lou Fontana, 70, who used to work in television and for the South Carolina park service. “I believe in the man’s politics,” he said. “I believe in the fact that he’s a good man. I think he’s leading the country in a good direction.
“I can’t see how people are missing the fact that the economy has rebounded so much, stock market’s at an all-time high, we just had record job numbers again yesterday. I’m not sure what people don’t get.”
Polls close in South Carolina Democratic primary
It’s 7pm, and polls have closed in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary.
Joe Biden is expected to win in a landslide, as incumbent presidents typically do. We’ll let you know how big his victory is, and whether there are any signs of Democrats supporting the candidacies of Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, or staying home altogether.
As hopeful as Democratic leaders are for a big Biden win in the South Carolina primary, the Guardian’s George Chidi reports that poll workers were expecting low turnout for the vote:
Two old men sat in the dark on a bench outside Dunston elementary school in North Charleston, South Carolina, waiting for a long day to start that would be quieter than they deserved.
Few were expecting strong turnout for the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Saturday. In pre-election polls, Biden had more than 90% support. The nomination race has no drama. But people still have to vote. And the temperamental apparatus of elections has to prepare for that vote, even when it’s not cast.
“We’ve got some people that come down here and really don’t know what they’re doing, and I try to help them,” said Virgil Middleton, 74, a retired truck driver and marine veteran of the Vietnam war. He fought for democracy, he said, “so that everybody can have a fair chance in the United States”.
Six poll workers trundled into the school gym at 6am, one of 2,351 precincts across the state, to snip the zip ties – marked with serial numbers – on the ballot box and fiddle with the polling terminals. They solemnly swore “to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of this state and of the United States”.
Up before sunrise, all would return home after dark. Take-home pay for a poll worker is about $167 for the day, said Robert Samuel Jackson, a 74-year-old retiree in North Charleston. It’s soldierly work. Four are military veterans. None are younger than 60.
And all have known each other – and known Annette Green, the precinct clerk – for years.
Biden, Harris push for big win in South Carolina
South Carolina’s Democratic primary may be Joe Biden’s to lose, but the state nonetheless has the full attention of the president and his allies.
Biden isn’t in South Carolina today, but visited repeatedly last month. On X (formerly Twitter), he posted a video encouraging people to vote:
The 2020 Democratic primary was far more competitive, and South Carolina was the first state Biden won, putting him on the path to winning that year’s nomination and eventually the presidency. Kamala Harris, who campaigned in the state yesterday, referenced that in her tweet:
In 2020, the people of South Carolina showed up to vote.
You convinced your friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers of the power of their vote.
It is because of that work that @JoeBiden and I are in the White House.
Let’s do it again today. pic.twitter.com/zdFZ3z4cZv
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 3, 2024
South Carolina native and Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison also pushed a pro-voting message alongside a member of a protest group who targeted a segregated lunch counter in the 1960s:
South Carolina Democrats expected to put Biden on path to renomination with primary vote
Good evening, US politics blog readers. We are convening this evening as South Carolina holds the first Democratic primary of the year, which Joe Biden is expected to win handily, putting him on the road to again receiving the party’s presidential nomination. While he does have challengers, namely Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, there have been no signs that Democrats would prefer either candidate over the president. Biden is, thus, a shoo-in to win South Carolina and the primary at large, but how the Palmetto state votes this evening may give other indications of the dynamics the president faces as he prepares for a likely rematch against Donald Trump in November. Here are some of the things we’ll be looking for as the clock ticks to 7pm ET, when polls close:
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How big is Biden’s win? Last month, the president won New Hampshire’s Democratic primary with 64% support. He wasn’t even on the ballot, and his victory was the result of a write-in campaign by his supporters, but the result nonetheless offers a baseline to compare against his expected victory in South Carolina.
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Will Black voters turn out for him? Approval polls have shown Biden underwater with the public at large for more than two and a half years, but Democrats are particularly worried about declining support for the president among African Americans, a key constituency. South Carolina’s population is over a quarter Black, and the results could give a hint as to whether that group will vote for him again.
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What are voters saying? South Carolina is deep red at the federal level and sure to be won by the Republican candidate in November. Tonight’s primary nonetheless offers the opportunity to hear from Democratic voters about what’s on their minds as they mull the prospect of a second Biden term.