Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday’s Democratic primary in SC, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week’s “Super Tuesday” showdown.
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But for South Carolina’s democratic voters, there was very little question. America has never stopped being great”, she told supporters in her victory speech in SC, pausing for applause then adding, “but we do need to make America whole again.
On issues including marriage equality, clean energy, voter rights, economic policies, campaign finance, and health care, she said, she presents a stark alternative to the Republican candidates. “We are not taking anything for granted”. The big state to watch is Texas, which has 222 delegates.
“As the campaign moves towards states with more diverse electorates in March, we expect Hillary’s strength among these groups will quickly translate into a major electoral advantage”, her campaign manager, Robby Mook, wrote in a February 9 open memo. “I will tell you the answer to that on Wednesday, how’s that?” he said.
Even if Sanders can’t manage to pull 4o percent or more of the delegates, he will be moving forward from Super Tuesday.
Meanwhile, real estate mogul Donald Trump continued to lead the Republican field, with 35 percent.
Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory.
He also charged Bill Clinton with being the one who has a “penchant for sexism”.
He has energised young people and liberals with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities.
Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.
Still, he did invest heavily in SC, with 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign. Likewise, Clinton also lost the support of Georgia Senator Vincent Fort who had previously endorsed the Hillary Clinton campaign.
On Super Tuesday 12 states will have primaries or caucuses and a big chunk of delegates for both the Republican and Democratic parties will be decided.
This time around though, Mr Clinton was well-received as he travelled the state on his wife’s behalf.
Her firewall, supporters said, would be her appeal with black voters.
Clinton’s renewed focus on Trump is a shift in her strategy from the past month, where she had been emphasizing her differences from her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders.
Clinton’s campaign hopes her strong showing in SC foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations. The eventual nominee will need 2,383 delegates in all.
Sanders has built a massive network of small donors and has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring. Clinton will still have to finish the job of securing the nomination before the race will be in the books.
Going into South Carolina, Clinton had a one-delegate edge over Sanders. He didn’t mention the results of the SC vote once in a almost hour-long speech in Minnesota late Saturday night, but in a statement, vowed to fight on aggressively.
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Clinton, meanwhile, has clearly turned the page and started eyeing a showdown with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, casting herself as the party’s best choice to take on the GOP.
