Haley staying in; Trump cruises in SC. Here are the latest results

Nikki Haley came on stage around 8:30 to address her crowd at a Charleston hotel. The race had been called for former President Donald Trump right after the polls closed.

“No matter the results, I love the people of our state,” Haley said. “I’ve always seen our state as a family. Families are honest with each other, they say the hard truth. That’s what I’ve done this entire campaign, and what I’ll do now.”

“I’m a woman of my word,” she said, referencing her previous statement about staying in the race. She then said she was headed to Michigan the next day.

She thanked her family, her supporters and specific people like Congressman Ralph Norman and State Representative Nathan Ballentine.

“I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden,” Haley said. “Nearly everyday, Trump drives people away.”

Haley said that she had gotten about 40% of the vote, similar to what she did in New Hampshire. “I know 40% is not some tiny group,” she said. The crowd cheered and started chanting “Nikki, Nikki.”

Trump takes stage just after polls close for victory speech

The Trump crowd at the SC State Fairgrounds roared in celebration when the Associated Press called the race at 7:01 p.m.

Not even two minutes later, Trump took to the stage with his signature song “Proud to be an American.”

“Wow, that was really something,” Trump said. “It was a little sooner than we anticipated, and an even bigger win than we anticipated. I was just informed that we got double the number of votes than has ever been received in the great state of South Carolina.”

Trump was joined on stage by his children, including Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. He was also flanked by Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and U.S. Senator Tim Scott.

“On Nov. 5, we’re going to say to Joe Biden, you’re fired! You’re fired, Joe. Get out!,” Trump said.

CNN was shown on a large screen in the ballroom at Haley’s primary night election party in downtown Charleston. Attendees were still coming in and barely reacted to the news.

Haley party attendees were still coming into the room less than 10 minutes after the polls closed in South Carolina.

As Trump spoke in Columbia, the music kept playing in the hotel ballroom. Those in attendance began chanting “Nikki! Nikki!”

“South Carolina is Trump Country again! It was true in 2016 and 2020, and South Carolina Republicans just put an exclamation point on it today. If we want to grow our economy, close our Southern border and save our country from a radical leftist agenda, then we need to unite our Party right now and put Donald Trump back in the White House this November,” said SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick said in a statement sent out after Trump’s win.

VIPs at Trump’s party included South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Mace from Charleston.

The event, at the SC State Fairgrounds in Columbia, saw Trump supporters lined up to around 4 p.m. to attend his watch party tonight, scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

Trump spoke at the Conservative Action Political Conference in Maryland on Saturday afternoon before heading to South Carolina. He declared himself as a “proud political dissident,” and compared himself with Alexei Navalny, an outspoken political opponent of Russia and Vladimir Putin. He also made November’s presidential election day out to be “judgment day.”

Meanwhile, in Charleston, the press started to file into the Charleston hotel where Haley would be hosting her election watch party.

Haley earlier today cast her ballot for president on Kiawah Island. Her son, Nalin Haley, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, also cast their votes in the GOP primary. Nikki Haley’s daughter, Rena Haley Jackson, and son-in-law, joined them at the polls.

“Being able to cast my vote in my sweet home state of South Carolina alongside my family was beyond meaningful,” Haley said in an email to supporters.

Voter turnout has been steady in Lexington and Richland counties as South Carolina voters decided who they want to nominate for president in the GOP primary election between former President Donald Trump and former Gov. Nikki Haley. Polls closed at 7 p.m.

Anti-other guys message gains votes

Cindy Rainey, a retired teacher and her husband Harry from Cottontown, said they came out to vote against Donald Trump.

“We voted for Nikki Haley. She’s a better candidate. She’s younger, she’s sane. So, those things together, that’s pretty much it,” Cindy said.

Cindy said they also came out to vote against one of the ballot questions, specifically about declaring your party affiliation.

“We see that as a precursor to try to make closed primaries,” Cindy said. “I like open primaries.”

Nancy Pope, a retired educator, said she had previously voted for Democrats, but she voted for Nikki Haley this time.

“I didn’t see a need to vote in the democratic primary because I figured that was a wasted vote for me,” Pope said. “I decided to vote in this primary so I could hopefully have an impact of keeping someone I’m vehemently against off the national ballot,” referring to Trump.

Pope said if Biden can’t win, she is better equipped to deal with Haley than Trump.

“We’ve dealt with Nikki,” Pope said. “So I can handle Nikki but if, if Biden doesn’t win, I feel like I can handle Nikki better than I can handle four more years of that.”

Some voters wait 45 minutes to cast ballots

Travis Alexander, Richland County supervisor of elections, said at 3 p.m, nearly 16,000 people had voted so far. Some areas had lines with waits as long as 45 minutes to an hour. There was a poll worker mishap where about 120 votes were cast using emergency slots, but this was corrected after.

Any of the state’s 3.1 million registered voters who did not participate in the is eligible to cast a ballot in the GOP primary. Only 131,472 people voted in the non competitive primary won by President Joe Biden.

Beaufort County turnout more than expected

Marie S. Smalls, director of the Beaufort County’s Board of Voter Registration and Elections, said residents had cast 16,951 ballots as of 1:55 p.m. Saturday, not including early voting numbers, which was 14,268. The turnout was “a little bit more” than expected, which she attributed to the contested race.

64% of Myrtle Beach voters asked voted for Trump

The Sun News spoke to more than 30 voters at three polls in North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach. Out of them, 23 voted for Trump and 13 voted for Nikki Haley, the Sun News reported.

These results are consistent with what polls have estimated to occur, with Trump leading by more than 30 points in the FiveThrityEight model. Those who voted for Trump cited their support for his policies on immigration and border control, the economy and foreign policy. Those who voted for Haley said they chose to do so because she could unite the country and that she was “level headed.”

1 million voters expected

State GOP Chairman Drew McKissick has estimated about 1 million people could vote in Saturday’s primary. During the two weeks of early voting in the state, 205,099 people cast ballots, including 39,804 on Thursday’s final day.

Overall, Horry County had the largest early voting turnout with 25,352 early voters, followed by Greenville (23,711), Charleston (19,656) and Beaufort (14,268) counties.

Weather across the state is expected to be mixed today. The National Weather Service is warning of storms in the afternoon with “isolated showers and thunderstorms possible across the northern Midlands today with some small hail and gusty winds associated with the stronger cells.

Lexington County sees steady turnout

Turnout has been strong in Lexington County, with 24,325 votes being cast as of 2:26 pm, according to election officials.

The county, once rural and now increasingly suburban, leans heavily conservative.

Andy Cress, who has been a poll worker since 2021, said it was the busiest he’d ever seen it. Until about 1 p.m. there had been a line outside the door of the Lexington Two Adult Education Center on Hook Road.

At another polling place, the Turner Memorial AME Church in West Columbia, there was a steady stream of voters. Around 2:30 a group of five seniors and a service dog stepped off of a bus from the Still Hopes Episcopal Retirement Community. It was the second bus from the West Columbia facility that day.

Normally the residents walk to their polling place at a nearby community center, The State was told, but due to consolidation that polling place was closed for the primary.

One voter said he was on his way to his third polling place, after finding his first shut and going to the wrong location on his second try.

“If that don’t work, I’m not going to vote,” he said getting into his car.

Cress said the confusion was normal during primaries. In the recent Democratic primary, a clerical error meant that incorrect information was posted to the state elections website.

For his part, Cress said that he had posted notices on the closed polling locations and he believed that people got where they needed to go. And as a poll worker, he feels grateful to be a part of the process. “We enjoy doing it,” Cress said. “We run into people we haven’t seen in a long time.”

John Michael Catalano, a spokesperson for the state election commission, said each county office is responsible for consolidating polling places. “It is not uncommon for polling places to be moved for presidential primaries.”



He added “State law specifically states that officials conducting presidential primaries “shall provide for cost effective measures in conducting presidential preference primaries including, but not limited to, combining polling places.” ”

Lexington County elections director Lenice Shoemaker said both parties primaries had consolidated precincts and that they placed that information in the local media and on their website.



“It is on our website. it is also if voter goes to SCvotes.gov, they can look themselves up and find out where they need to vote,” she said. “They also can call they’re coming to my office and I will help the voter know where they need to go”

Shattered pelvis and Wi-Fi outage don’t stop voting

At Satchel Ford Elementary school, shortly after noon, the line to vote stretched down a hallway still hung with red Valentine’s Day hearts.

The morning started slow at the school in the leafy upper middle class suburb of Columbia, but the pace of voting has picked up throughout the day. “It’s been very busy,” said one poll worker. But the line moved smoothly, with voters only waiting about 15 minutes. “Not bad at all,” one voter could be heard to say.

Outside, polling officials brought a booth to Deseré Segal and Joshua Scharff, who were sitting on a bench, so they could vote outside. Scharff is recovering from a shattered pelvis and was unable to stand in the line.

“Only in South Carolina,” Scharff said

Scharff and Segal are transplants to Forest Acres. Scharff is from Maryland and Segal is originally from South Africa, but moved to the U.S. in 1981. Both are in their late 60s and are avid Trump voters. They said taxes and rising costs for necessities like gas and groceries are among their reasons for voting Trump.

They also cited the rumors of a Haley extra-marital affair and her husband’s business dealings as negatives in the former governor. Asked how they felt that many of those same charges were leveled against Trump, Segal was quick to clarify “those scandals were all political.”

“He’s got everyone against him,” Scharff said.

Earlier this morning, the Wi-Fi went down at the Satchel Ford Elementary School, but it did not affect voting, officials at the polling place said.

Travis Alexander, the election director for Richland County, said that the outage did not impact voting. Votes are recorded on paper ballots and while information on all registered voters for the precinct is stored electronically, that data is downloaded ahead of time.

“It wouldn’t stop voting,” Alexander said.

Who’s on the ballot?

Seven names are on the S.C. GOP ballot, even though some candidates have already dropped out of the race.

▪ Pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley

▪ Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

▪ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

▪ Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

▪ Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy

▪ Air Force Major and Florida businessman David Stuckenberg

▪ Former President Donald Trump

Haley, governor casts vote, talk elections

Politicians continued the time-honored tradition of inviting the media to be there while they are casting votes. Haley voted Saturday in her home precinct on Kiawah Island, while S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster voted in Columbia.



Haley took questions from reporters including about her path forward to the convention. Her campaign has events scheduled through Super Tuesday, and she said that is all she is focusing on.

“That’s the offensiveness it’s going to happen every day between now in the general election, which is why I continue to say Donald Trump cannot win a general election,” Haley said, calling Trump’s comments about Black voters, ‘disgusting’.“

McMaster and his wife, First Lady Peggy McMaster, cast their votes in the South Carolina GOP primary.

The couple voted around 10:30 am at the Olympia Learning Center off of Bluff Road, in Columbia. Turnout was steady at the polling location with roughly 40 people arriving to cast their ballots over half an hour.

A staunch Trump ally, McMaster reiterated his support for the former president. Describing his initial decision to support Trump, McMaster recalled “We listened to him, we met him and we decided he was the one for us.”

The second-term Republican said that top issues were the border, returning to Trump-era economics and appointing more judges.

What questions passed on the ballot

Voters saw three advisory questions on the ballot. The questions, chosen by the party, have no legal effect, but allow voters to signal to state lawmakers where they stand on issues.

The first question, which the state Republican Party has pushed before, asked about voter registration by party. South Carolina does not have registration by political party and has an open primary. The question has appeared on primary ballots since 2018 and registration by party is a top priority for the state Republicans, McKissick said.

▪ Should South Carolina law be changed to give people the right to register to vote with the political party of their choice?

South Carolina voters said yes, 73.12% to 26.88% no.

The next question played into the ongoing debate about judicial reform at the State House as lawmakers debate the process in how they elect judges.

▪ Should South Carolina adopt reforms to increase the independence and accountability of our judiciary by improving transparency and reducing conflicts of interest in the process of reviewing judicial qualifications and electing judges?

The vote passed, 91.17% to 8.83% voting no.

The last question dealt with tort reform and is about helping small business, the SC Republican Party said. The current law allows a plaintiff to go after a person with the deepest pockets no matter how much responsibility they have in an incident. The party says the question is about making sure liability is proportional.

▪ Should it be an immediate legislative priority to protect South Carolina’s competitiveness and small businesses by changing state law so that a person’s responsibility for financial damages in a lawsuit is based on that person’s actual share of responsibility?

Voters also voted yes, 87.75% to 12.25% voting no.

Final day of campaigning

Both Trump and Haley made two final campaign appearances each on Friday. Haley’s bus tour took her to Moncks Corner in the afternoon, before a rally at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant.

Trump spoke to 6,000 people at the Winthrop Coliseum on Friday afternoon, before attending the a black-tie event in Columbia for Black Republicans that evening. At both events, he drew attention to his indictments to encourage support.

Trump, in his final appeal to Black voters ahead of Saturday’s primary, encouraged a crowd of Black conservatives “to return home” at the Black Conservative Federation Honors Gala.

That is, he said the party of Abraham Lincoln that freed slaves and advocated for civil rights legislation.

“It is the greatest political movement in our country,” Trump said, referring to a wave of Black voters migrating toward Trump, away from the Democratic Party.





McClatchy reporters Andrew Dys, Evan McKenna and Mary Ramsey contributed.