A look at President Biden’s blowout in SC and how it compares to 2020

COLUMBIA — Nearly 131,300 South Carolinians voted in Democrats’ “first-in-the-nation” primary that gave President Joe Biden a blowout victory, according to unofficial results from the state Election Commission.

That’s less than a quarter of the turnout in the competitive, seven-way race here that catapulted him to the White House four years ago.

In 2020, Biden alone received more than twice the total count Saturday.

But the first contest of 2024 with Biden on the ballot succeeded in sending the message that Black voters matter, according to Democratic officials.

“Last week, after the DNC (Democratic National Committee) elevated Black voices to the front of the presidential primary process for the first time by making South Carolina the first Democratic primary in the nation, Black voters showed up stronger than ever,” DNC spokeswoman Rhyan Lake said in a statement Tuesday.

Once all counties were counted, Biden had 96.2% of the total vote Feb. 3. Author Marianne Williamson of California was light years behind at 2.1% and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota trailed with a mere 1.7%.

The results remain unofficial until they’re certified Thursday by the state Election Commission board.

Biden’s win was never in doubt against the extreme long-shot candidates. But the party and Biden’s campaign pushed for a strong showing in South Carolina with get-out-the-vote efforts that focused on energizing Black voters, who make up a large part of South Carolina’s Democratic base.

Democratic officials say it worked.

Black voters made up roughly three-quarters of the people who cast ballots during the two-week early voting window. And about 6,000 people who voted either early in person or absentee by mail were first-time voters, according to the party’s analysis of the state’s unofficial early voter data.

By comparison, Black voters accounted for 56% of the nearly 540,000 South Carolinians who cast ballots in the 2020 presidential primary. Biden won then with nearly 49% of the total, or just over 262,300 votes. Second-place finisher, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, was 30 percentage points behind, a landslide at the time.

An official demographic breakdown of the Feb. 3 contest won’t be available from the state Election Commission until after the results are certified.

Numbers that are available show a substantial portion of the total — roughly 40% — voted before Saturday.

“The early voting numbers were very good,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain said Saturday night. 

Biden received about 46,700 more votes in South Carolina than New Hampshire, which skipped ahead of the party’s official calendar. Biden refused to register for that contest and did not campaign in the Granite State, but he won through write-ins anyway.

South Carolina voters do not have to register by party, meaning anyone can vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary — just not both.

Just over 4% of the state’s 3.2 million registered voters participated in Saturday’s election, compared to 16.4% in 2020.

Biden’s decisive win in South Carolina four years ago revived his campaign, following fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. The party skipped Iowa and New Hampshire this year to put the Palmetto State first and Nevada second.

“This cycle, the Democratic Party made the historic decision to bring new, diverse voices into the starting line up with historic nominating contests in South Carolina and Nevada,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, who’s from South Carolina, said Sunday.

“I’m so proud of the enthusiasm that my home state showed yesterday in their very first first-in-the-nation primary in South Carolina,” he said. As for Nevada’s primary, he added, “voters of color will once again have the opportunity to make their voices heard.”

Biden easily won Nevada’s primary Tuesday too. With about 98,400 votes counted, Biden had 89% of them against Williamson’s 3%. An estimated 12% of votes still needed to be counted Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press.