Biden Aims for Decisive Victory in South Carolina Despite Concerns About Turnout

President Joe Biden secured an easy victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, despite signs of low turnout, said Newsmax shortly after the polls closed.

He defeated other long-shot Democrats on the state’s ballot, including Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and author Marianne Williamson.

The president’s campaign had invested heavily in driving up turnout for Biden, aiming to mobilize Black voters, which are a key part of the Democrat vote in South Carolina.

Biden’s victory comes in a state that he and other party leaders had recommended lead off the party’s 2024 primary calendar. In picking South Carolina, they cited the state’s more racially diverse population compared to the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

South Carolina kicked off Biden’s road to the White House in 2020, and he is seeking some of the same magic ahead of a likely rematch with Republican Donald Trump.

There was only a trickle of voters at a number of polling booths visited by AFP in Charleston, with many people apparently viewing Biden’s victory in South Carolina as a foregone conclusion.

Biden himself urged voters to get to the polls in a video on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “South Carolina, go vote today!”

Biden made a string of campaign visits to South Carolina but is staying away on Saturday, already turning his attention to next week’s primary in Nevada, where he will hold a campaign event on Sunday.

“I am feeling good about where we are. I really am,” Biden said during a visit to his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden also pushed for South Carolina to be at the front of the Democratic primary calendar this year, above New Hampshire. Turnout will be closely watched in South Carolina, particularly among Black voters — and if they stay away then Democrats will need to worry.

Newsmax‘s Eric Mack topped this Agence France-Presse report with material from The Associated Press and the results from Decision Desk HQ, which gave Biden the official checkmark with just 1% of the vote tallied.