South Carolina holds the nation’s first-in-the-South presidential primary on Saturday.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.
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11:00 PM: Delegate count so far out of South Carolina:
Our current delegate estimate allocates 42 out of the 54 available delegates in South Carolina…
So far, we've estimated Biden with at least 32 delegates — over half of what's at stake — and Sanders with at least 10#SCprimary2020 pic.twitter.com/pGhOZGmRut
— Kabir Khanna (@kabir_here) March 1, 2020
10:05 PM: With 86% reporting: Bideen 48.4%, Sanders 19.9%.
The early-state wins broken down by county
(SC is ~80% reported) pic.twitter.com/fQjX75yEfp
— Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) March 1, 2020
9:33 PM: Steyer says he got into the race for really good reasons. He says he got into the race because he thought people were not addressing racial injustices in the country. He rips Lindsey Graham as a “disaster” and says every Democrat is better than Trump. He says when the Lord closes the door, he opens a window and he will find that window and crawl through it.
Van Jones and Yang praise Steyer.
.@TomSteyer is a class act. He genuinely cares about these issues, and he put his money where his mouth is.
He did the right thing by backing out. We need to clarify this race. I hope other candidates follow suit. #SCprimary2020 @CNN pic.twitter.com/oBL7jI5ZzC
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) March 1, 2020
Tom Steyer is a great American and patriot who has spent years fighting for racial justice and addressing climate change. He is going to keep fighting. Non sibi Tom. See you soon. 👍🙏🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/NEOnHHl9bo
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) March 1, 2020
9:21 PM: With 60% reporting, it’s Biden 50.2%, Sanders 18.3%. A thrashing.
9:15 PM: Steyer reportedly dropping out tonight:
Per @CarrieNBCNews, as of the end of January, @TomSteyer had spent $253.7 million on his campaign (according to FEC filings)https://t.co/rlWrDyJEXp
— Julia Jester (@JulesJester) March 1, 2020
Just breaking on @MSNBC: Tom Steyer is ending his presidential campaign.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 1, 2020
I'm told Tom Steyer "will make an announcement" shortly…
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) March 1, 2020
CNN's @jeffzeleny reporting Tom Steyer expected to drop out minutes from there — he spend $22.4+ MILLION dollars in SC and may walk away with no delegates #SCprimary2020
— Kristin Donnelly (@kristindonnelly) March 1, 2020
Steyer adviser concedes “the firewall was real.”
Congratulations to Team @JoeBiden on absolutely crushing it in the #SouthCarolinaPrimary.
(The firewall was real)
— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) March 1, 2020
9:15 PM: Interesting point about women/candidates of color not given as many chances as Biden.
I hope Joe Biden takes this win and “re-tools” his campaign like Clyburn says. And I hope women and candidates of color are given this many chances, and this much air time in the future. pic.twitter.com/SqfMWL1I7a
— jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) March 1, 2020
9:10 PM:
When recounting how he and his family sought comfort from those who lost lives at Mother Emmanuel in Charleston a month after Beau died, Biden, Jill & his daughter Ashley grew visibly emotional, wiping away tears from their eyes.
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) March 1, 2020
Biden recalls coming to Charleston after the Mother Emmanuel church shooting left nine people dead.
“Six weeks earlier we lost our son Beau. And we needed to be healed too.”— Michael Mathes (@MichaelMathes) March 1, 2020
9:03 PM: Not a good night for Steyer:
And a reminder: Steyer spent $20.9m on the SC airwaves, per @Ad_Analytics alone.
Nationally, he's spent $158.4m thru today. https://t.co/lTxyNXL0Gf
— Carrie Dann (@CarrieNBCNews) March 1, 2020
9:00 PM: Biden’s camp would love to make the popular vote + delegates argument:
Biden on pace to lead the cumulative popular vote (IA/NV first preference + NH and SC) by the end of the night: pic.twitter.com/nZWYeYOHDB
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) March 1, 2020
8:58 PM: Bloomberg:
On stage at the North Carolina Dems dinner, @MikeBloomberg made no mention about the SC Primary tonight. Following him out of the dinner, asked for reaction, Bloomberg said nothing. But, his spox @lavorgna said “Congratulations to the Vice President”
— Maura Barrett (@MauraBarrettNBC) March 1, 2020
Warren still going after Sanders:
Warren hits Sanders tonight in Houston:
“This crisis demands more than a Senator who has good ideas, but whose 30-year track record shows he consistently calls for things he fails to get done, and consistently opposes things he nevertheless fails to stop.”
— Deepa Shivaram (@deepa_shivaram) March 1, 2020
8:50 PM: Biden thanks South Carolina. He tells his “buddy” Clyburn: “You brought me back.” Biden says the press and the pundits declared his candidacy dead but thanks the “heart of the Democratic party,” he is very much alive. He says South Carolina Democrats launched Bill Clinton/Obama and now they’ve launched his campaign. Biden tells Democrats voting on Super Tuesday that this is the moment Democrats can determine what this party stands for. Biden says if Democrats nominate him, he can beat Trump and keep the House and take back the Senate.
Joe Biden to South Carolina supporters: "You launched Bill Clinton, Barack Obama to the presidency. Now you launched our campaign on the path to defeating Donald Trump." https://t.co/gcMFpfkhMP pic.twitter.com/KrPrEpyaGg
— ABC News (@ABC) March 1, 2020
Weird argument from Biden. He should have just made the electability/down-ticket argument instead of talking about how Democrats can determine what this party stands for…. words the Sanders campaign could use against him.
Biden urges Democrats to nominate a “Democrat”–an “Obama-Biden” Democrat. He says Americans want “results” and not “promises” of a revolution. Biden says Democrats can’t be like “them” (Trump’s Republicans) and have never-ending war. He says this election is for the heart and soul of the country and not the Democratic Party after minutes ago telling Democrats to determine what his party stands for.
Biden’s really is not good with these speeches. Fair or not, he always seems unprepared and sounds like a transactional candidate.
Massive welcome at Biden victory rally for Rep. Jim Clyburn, and not hard to see why: his endorsement was called “the most important factor” by 28% of South Carolina voters in exit polls and “one of several important factors” by an additional 22%. https://t.co/wfp41x4sTU pic.twitter.com/4mzf7pTTNn
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) March 1, 2020
8:41 PM:
Jim Clyburn, the kingmaker, opening for Biden pic.twitter.com/ELu7WFVOxj
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) March 1, 2020
42% of South Carolina Democratic primary voters said they go to church weekly
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 29, 2020
8:38 PM: Looks like Bloomberg is not changing anything:
Opinion of Mike Bloomberg among South Carolina Democrats, according to the exit poll:
26% favorable
66% unfavorable— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) March 1, 2020
Bloomberg aide says they are NOT changing strategy after Biden win. Despite tonight’s win aide says Biden’s run so far is NOT impressive.
Concedes media narrative will help Biden in the next few days but says Bloomberg can win:
VA
NC
AR
AL
OK— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 1, 2020
8:31 PM: After saying that Trump will not undermine America’s democracy, Sanders says he is proud that he has won the popular vote in Iowa + New Hampshire/Nevada. Sanders says “you can’t win them all.” He congratulates Biden on his victory and says “now we enter Super Tuesday in Virginia.”
Sanders says “we are more than a campaign. We are a movement…”
He then goes into his standard stump speech.
8:30 PM: Sanders is the first to speak. Biden probably did not go out to speak to ensure Sanders would not “bigfoot” him. Sanders immediately opens up thanking veterans in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and talking about wars that never should have been fought. He’s reminding anti-war Democrats where he stands on foreign policy/war as opposed to Biden.
8:20 PM: Biden getting ready to make one of the biggest speeches of his political life.
We’re at Biden HQs awaiting the projected SC winner. Prompter has changed from “Four score” to “Standby” so maybe this is happening soon… pic.twitter.com/rC8LfjlZxf
— Melissa Russo (@MelissaRusso4NY) March 1, 2020
7:50 PM: Warren/Buttigieg/Klobuchar not appealing to the heart and soul of the party:
First results from a smattering of eight majority black SC counties:
Warren 2.1%
Buttigieg 2.0%
Klobuchar 1.0%— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) March 1, 2020
7:45 PM:
This is now a two person race: Biden and Sanders. Bloomberg has almost certainly lost his bet that Biden would fall apart so he could become the alternative to Sanders.
— Robert Shrum (@BobShrum) March 1, 2020
7:40 PM: Weingarten tweets “congrats” to Biden before she is reportedly set to endorse Warren later tonight. Doesn’t look like Warren will have a good showing in the Palmetto State:
Congrats to @JoeBiden for winning South Carolina. And winning it decisively. He shares our values and many @aftunion members are supporting him . #AFTvotes https://t.co/FzDpoPKGjw
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 1, 2020
7:35 PM: Biden, who doesn’t have money to advertise across Super Tuesday states, needs his victory speech to be seen in those states. Will he finally give a coherent speech about what his campaign is about and why he is running or will he just again ramble like a Senate insider talking to institutional historians about insider minutiae nobody knows or cares about?
7:26 PM: The Pundit-in-Chief’s take:
Sleepy Joe Biden’s victory in the South Carolina Democrat Primary should be the end of Mini Mike Bloomberg’s Joke of a campaign. After the worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates, Mini Mike now has Biden split up his very few voters, taking many away!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020
An interesting nugget from preliminary exit polls in South Carolina, via my @ABC colleagues:
Although Bloomberg isn't on the ballot in SC, the exits asked voters what they thought of him, and just 25% had a favorable view, based on these preliminary results.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 29, 2020
7:25 PM: A lot of joy but probably a lot more relief as well:
Scenes from the @JoeBiden #SCprimary2020 watch party where minutes ago the crowd erupted in applause when the former VP was announced the projected winner of the state’s primary contest #covering2020 pic.twitter.com/u73NyKhkfK
— LaCrai Mitchell (@LaCraiMitchell) March 1, 2020
7:20 PM: Biden Campaign: “South Carolina Chooses Presidents.”
South Carolina chooses presidents. Now on to Super Tuesday where a little over 1/3 of the delegates needed to win the nomination are allocated. South Carolina has been heard, we are just getting started.
— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) March 1, 2020
South Carolina picks presidents. We now head into Super Tuesday with the momentum at our back, and the support of the diverse coalition that since 1992 has chosen the Democratic nominee for President.
— Kate Bedingfield (@KBeds) March 1, 2020
7:15 PM: Former VA Gov. Terry McAuliffe announces on CNN he is endorsing Biden and he’ll campaign with him in Virginia ahead of Super Tuesday. He says he’s worried about VA Reps Spanberger/Luria will lose their seats if Biden is not on the top of the ticket. He suggests Steyer, Klobuchar, Buttigieg should consider dropping out ahead of Super Tuesday. De facto Buttigieg surrogate David Axelrod not sure what to make of McAuliffe’s suggestion.
7:12 PM: Biden has Obama to thank:
Opinion of candidates among SC black voters:
Biden
Favorable 85%
Unfavorable 11%Sanders
Favorable 56%
Unfavorable 36%— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) March 1, 2020
7:10 PM: To steal from greatest basketball announcer who ever lived, though the SC primary was put in the refrigerator for Biden early (door’s closed, light’s out, the butter’s getting hard, the eggs are cooling, and the Jello is jiggling), the margin is going to matter. Sanders and Bloomberg campaigns will be hoping for a backdoor Sanders cover as the night goes on while Biden’s team is hoping this is a no-doubter.
7:00 PM: Polls closed in South Carolina. AP, CNN Projects Biden Victory Right After Polls Close. This would be Biden’s first win ever as a candidate.
T- 2 min until polls close in Columbia, SC, and the crowd at Biden’s party here already seems elated. Some remix of Wagon Wheel playing on the speaker. Area politicos predicting a good night for Biden. pic.twitter.com/ZlNgTpmDm4
— Sophie C. Vaughan (@SophieCVaughan1) February 29, 2020
CNN projects @JoeBiden will get a bare minimum of 14 out of South Carolina’s 54 delegates.
We can safely expect he will ultimately get many more than that. #SC2020
— Jamie Lovegrove (@jslovegrove) March 1, 2020
6:30 PM: Good signs for Biden:
CNN early exit polls from South Carolina: Electorate today 55% African American, 29% over age 65 (vs 10% 18-29), and the most common ideological category was "moderate" at 40%. All these numbers are pretty good for Biden
— Alexander Panetta (@Alex_Panetta) February 29, 2020
6:15 PM: Polls Close in South Carolina at 7 PM ET:
According to early exit polls, 43% of South Carolina Democrats say Biden is the candidate who best understands the concerns of racial and ethnic minorities, a number that increases to 55% among black voters, ahead of the other candidates. pic.twitter.com/KnxtcgFfIO
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 29, 2020
Favorability in prelim #SCprimary2020 exits:
Biden 75
Steyer 55
Warren 54
Sanders 53
Buttigieg 51
Klobuchar 44
Bloomberg (not on ballot) 25— Rick Klein (@rickklein) February 29, 2020
Voters/caucus participants under 45 years old, per exit polls:
IA: 45%
NH: 35%
NV: 36%
SC: 28%— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) February 29, 2020
Clyburn seems fed up with Biden’s campaign being all over the map and making unforced error after the error with the gaffe-prone candidate not helping matters:
Wow. @WhipClyburn to CNN’s @AnaCabrera today on @JoeBiden’s campaign: “I did not feel free to speak about it or to even deal with it inside because I had not committed to his candidacy… I'm all in and I’m not going to sit back idly and watch people mishandle this campaign.” pic.twitter.com/Y6AefxwxPI
— Sarah Mucha (@sarahmucha) February 29, 2020
Delegate count so far (South Carolina awards 54):
Here's where the national delegate race stands as we wait for polls to close in South Carolina…
Sanders currently leading Buttigieg by 19 and Biden by 30
Warren & Klobuchar also on the board but further behind pic.twitter.com/cawIzpLNN8
— Kabir Khanna (@kabir_here) February 29, 2020
Number to watch in the South Carolina results tonight: Does Bernie Sanders hit 15 percent statewide?
If not, Biden could come close to overtaking Bernie in the delegate lead. 54 delegates at stake here.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 29, 2020
Sanders Campaign: Medicare for All needed because of threats like Coronavirus:
Coronavirus shows the importance of @BernieSanders' Medicare for All.
In a pandemic, you don't want people avoiding getting tested or treated because they can't afford a $3,000 medical bill.
We're only as safe as the least insured person among us. Everyone has to be covered. pic.twitter.com/CrHQnlvf4U
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) February 29, 2020
Biden in North Carolina:
.@JoeBiden begins his Super Tuesday blitz in Raleigh, N.C. alongside Reps. @GKButterfield & @RepDavidEPrice and several hundred people. This is his second time rallying in N.C. since launching his bid for president. pic.twitter.com/2FySSq9kcg
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) February 29, 2020
Bloomberg hitting Biden for not being an executive. In football, there are many coaches who always tend to be great coordinators but can’t handle being the head coach.
In an interview this morning, I asked Bloomberg for the biggest difference between him and Biden. https://t.co/KcziiJ5AoJ
His response: pic.twitter.com/J5UBSz44Hz
— Tarini Parti (@tparti) February 29, 2020
Warren getting key union support–Weingarten set to endorse Warren:
NEWS: @AFTunion President Randi Weingarten will endorse Elizabeth Warren for president at a rally tonight in Houston, per a source familiar.
Weingarten’s endorsement is in her personal capacity. https://t.co/FnOxewp02U
— Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) February 29, 2020
What will Steyer do if he performs poorly in South Carolina?
Thank you for the support, @juviethegreat.
South Carolina – don't forget to vote! https://t.co/LsMUmz82ta
— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) February 29, 2020
Buttigieg in Nashville:
Over 3,000 people showed up to @PeteButtigieg’s Nashville rally. That’s more than double any Democratic candidate this cycle.
It’s actually our state’s biggest crowd for a Democrat since Al Gore’s election night party in 2000.
They planned this event fewer than 48 hours ago. pic.twitter.com/9ROK9HSRrg
— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) February 29, 2020
Klobuchar:
Asked by @JasJWright where she needs to place today in South Carolina to bring back momentum into Super Tuesday, @amyklobuchar said, "My momentum going into Super Tuesday is coming off our results in the last few states, I don't pretend to think I'm gonna be number one in SC…" pic.twitter.com/7m5rjzm8et
— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) February 29, 2020
Early Exit Polling:
SC EXIT POLL:
Health care is most important issue for SC Dem voters today (39%). Then income inequality (21%), race relations (18%), climate (14%).
Views are more divided in SC on Medicare for all (50% support, 44% oppose) than in IA, NH, NV.
(Via Jen De Pinto, @CBSNews)
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) February 29, 2020
More SC Dems want the next president to return to Barack Obama’s policies (51%) while roughly 3 in 10 want to change to more liberal policies.
The % wanting a return to Obama policies is currently higher than it was in New Hampshire (40%)
Meanwhile…
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) February 29, 2020
From a list of candidate qualities, someone who can bring needed change (38%), tops the list followed by someone who can unite the country (27%), followed by a candidate who cares about me (24%).
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) February 29, 2020
Clyburn delivered for Biden. But Biden has to obliterate the “spread” to get maximum momentum going into Super Tuesday.
When Clyburn endorsed Biden earlier this week, he said he made his decision to publicly endorse his support BECAUSE a constituent said she was waiting for his word before making a final decision about who to vote for today. https://t.co/1NZta7MlUn
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) February 29, 2020
.@WhipClyburn's endorsement of Biden earlier this week, was called "the most important factor" by 24% of voters and "one of several important factors" by an additional 23%, per preliminary exit polls results
— Kendall Karson (@kendallkarson) February 29, 2020
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