Donald Trump claimed victory in South Carolina’s Republican primary Saturday, deepening his hold on the GOP presidential field as the contest moves into the South.
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Trump won 44 of the 50 delegates up for grabs Saturday. Onetime protege Marco Rubio passed him in the polls, and Bush moved farther and farther to the side of the stage in the candidates’ presidential debates.
“Thank you for running a race for the presidency that we can all be proud of”, Graham said.
“Politics: It’s tough, it’s nasty, it’s mean, it’s vicious”.
“After tonight, this has become a three-person race and we will win the nomination”, Rubio told backers in Columbia, S.C.
Cruz said he is “effectively tied for second place” with Rubio but has shows he is the only Republican candidate who “has beaten and can beat Donald Trump”.
For both parties, the 2016 election has laid bare voters’ frustration with Washington and the influence of big money in the political system.
Cruz led among voters who cared most about having a candidate who shares their values, while those looking for a candidate who can bring change preferred Trump.
Media captionHere’s a message mash up of how Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush made their campaign announcements.
He was backed by almost 4 in 10 of those who are angry at the federal government, and a third of those who feel betrayed.
Cruz eked out a victory in the Iowa caucus with a slim victory over Trump, but was overwhelmed by Trump in the New Hampshire primary.
“I’m going to get a lot of those votes also”, Trump said. “But the people of Iowa, New Hampshire and SC have spoken”, the former Florida governor said in Columbia.
Clinton’s roughly 5-point win eased the rising anxieties of her backers, who feared a growing challenge from Bernie Sanders. (Neither do Democrats, but that’s another story.) Instead, they elect delegates, who will pick the nominee at the Republican National Convention in July. Clinton has emerged a favorite of those seeking an experienced political hand, while Sanders is drawing young voters and others with his call for a political and economic revolution. Republicans will go to Nevada for the Republican caucus on Tuesday. The Hispanic vote was closely divided between Sanders and Clinton.
The end was all the more personal because the former Florida governor had poured his energy into the state, invoking his family’s political legacy at one campaign stop after another and facing down voters who questioned his campaign strategy.
Mrs Clinton’s victory in the Nevada Democratic caucuses could help calm Democratic Party worries about the strength of her campaign. About three-quarters support a temporary ban on Muslims who are not American citizens from entering the country, and those voters were most likely to support Trump.
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South Carolina Republicans award delegates for being the statewide victor as well as for winning individual congressional districts. “Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other”.
