Former President Donald Trump has a lead in the Republican presidential primary, but the process is far from over. The next step is South Carolina’s primary, which takes place on Saturday. Here’s what to know:
Candidates: The major candidates include Trump, the current front-runner to get the Republican nomination for the third straight presidential election. His top rival is former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as US ambassador to the United Nations for part of Trump’s term as president.
Who can vote? South Carolina’s primaries are open, which means any registered voter can take part in either the Republican primary or the Democratic primary, but not both. The Democratic primary took place earlier in February. President Joe Biden won easily.
If Trump wins South Carolina, is the primary over? Not technically. It will ultimately take 1,215 delegates for Trump, or anyone, to secure the Republican nomination. Just 50 delegates are at stake in South Carolina. Heading into the South Carolina primary, Trump has the lead with 63 delegates to Haley’s 17. So there is still a long way to go. The largest pot of delegates is up for grabs on Super Tuesday, March 5.
Why was the Democratic primary on a different date? South Carolina has an unusual practice of letting each party pick the date of their presidential primary, and they’re typically held on different days. Democrats wanted South Carolina to be the first big event on their calendar. It’s the state that revived Biden’s campaign after early losses in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020 and is much more diverse than either of those two traditional early states. Biden won the Democratic primary on February 3 with more than 96% of the vote.
What are the state’s demographics? As of the 2020 Census, the state was about 62% White, about one-quarter Black and nearly 7% Hispanic. But the Republican primary voters are overwhelmingly White. When Trump won the South Carolina primary with more than 32% of the vote in 2016, just about 1% of the GOP primary voters were Black.
Here’s what else to know about the South Carolina GOP Primary
