Boyd Brown, local committeeman for the Democratic National Committee, said Clinton developed a strong ground game in the Palmetto State for the last two years, maintaining strong support from African-American voters who Sanders failed to capture.
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For the second straight contest, Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders, winning the SC primary on Saturday.
“We have now gone through four early states and I want to congratulate Bernie sanders on running a great race”, Clinton said. Meanwhile, Clinton is returning to SC for a primary night event following a day campaigning in Alabama. She won an overwhelming share of both the male and female vote – 68% of men and 79% of women voted for her. But women comprised a much larger share of SC primary voters – 39% of voters were men, and 61% were women.
Numerous states voting, especially in the South, have more diverse electorates like SC, portending trouble for Sanders in trying to expand his base, which has been much younger and whiter.
The Democratic front-runner won largely on the strength of her support from black voters – her so-called “firewall” that, in the end, held up.
With 53 delegates at stake, Clinton will receive at least 31. Clinton won 86% of the black vote, an even bigger percentage than President Obama did in 2008. Hillary!” she said: “We are going to compete for every vote in every state.
Sanders won with young people – albeit by a smaller margin than in other states. “But I think if they gave Bernie a chance, they would see that he’s more progressive on the issues that are more important to them”. “America has never stopped being great”, she said, referencing Trump’s campaign slogan. But the results in primaries and caucuses suggest that while Sanders has the firepower to shift the rhetoric and focus of the nomination battle, it’s simply not a large enough slice of the Democratic electorate to win the nod.
“But we do need to make America whole again”, she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favoured by Trump, who has antagonised immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.
Among those looking for a candidate who is honest and trustworthy, Sanders and Clinton split the vote. That wasn’t the case in SC with black voters.
“Sanders says he is not giving up…but he is struggling to prove that he is a viable candidate”, she said.
The victory all but clears the way for Clinton to coast to the Democratic nomination. “Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers”.
Huge cheers broke out at the venue in Columbia, South Carolina, where Clinton was due to deliver a victory speech to supporters.
Clinton was supported by over 9 in 10 voters saying experience was the most important quality in choosing a candidate, and 8 in 10 of those saying it was most important to choose a candidate who can win in November. With 98% of precincts reporting, Clinton had taken more than 73% of the vote.
Black voters in Richland County make up about 45 percent of the population of almost 385,000 people, according to the 2010 Census Bureau.
Clinton’s victory in SC means she will pick up most of the state’s delegates, widening her overall lead in AP’s delegate count.
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Perhaps the best evidence that all is forgiven: In 2008, Clyburn, who’d endorsed Obama, was furious after Bill Clinton had called him a “bastard” in a late-night, post-primary phone call that Clyburn detailed in his memoir.
