Former US president Donald Trump was projected to win the crucial South Carolina primary against Indian-American rival Nikki Haley, thereby inching closer to GOP Presidential nominations.
The win came as a big boost to Trump as South Carolina was Haley's home state, where she was a two-term governor. This also gives the former President four straight wins in the Republican presidential primaries -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Just after 9 p.m. ET (IST 7:30 am) Trump was holding a 20-point edge over Haley. Trump was leading 59.7% to 39.7% with about half of the expected vote tallied, according to Edison.
"Wow," that was sooner than we anticipated. We had an even bigger win than we anticipated," Trump told his supporters at the South Carolina fairgrounds almost immediately after the race was called. "On November 5th, we’re going to get up here and say, ‘Joe you’re fired! You’re fired! Get out!" Trump said, adding that he has never seen the Republican party so unified as it is right now.
He did not mention Haley once in about 30 minutes of remarks. Trump also now looks to win all 29 of the state's at-large delegates, and expectations are that he could reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch by mid-March, all the criminal charges doing nothing to slow him down.
So far, Haley has won 17 delegates and Trump has won 92. However, Haley remains defiant, stating that she will campaign through at least "Super Tuesday" on March 5, when Republicans in 15 states and one U.S. territory will cast ballots. "We need to beat Joe Biden in November," she told supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, after Saturday's election was called in Trump's favor. "I don't believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden."
She argued that her vote share, while less than 50%, showed a large number of Republicans were still uneasy about Trump.
Haley came to South Carolina needing to "close the gap" against Trump. "I need to show that I'm stronger in South Carolina than in New Hampshire", she said during the campaign. However, her arguments that Trump cannot stop Biden fell flat. But, 82% of South Carolina GOP voters said in exit polls that Trump was likely to beat Biden this fall, compared to 59% who said the same about Haley. Nearly two-thirds of voters also said Trump would be fit to serve as president even if he is convicted of a crime.
