President Biden will hold a campaign event in Nevada on Sunday, two days before the presidential primary in the key Western battleground state.
Biden’s stop in Las Vegas this weekend comes as he rapidly cruised to a landslide victory in the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina, clinching his second consecutive convincing win on the party’s 2024 nominating calendar. It was the day after I got it.
The president is close to clinching the nomination, winning about 96% of the vote in the Palmetto State as vote counting continued into the night Saturday.
“In 2020, we proved the experts wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and put us on the path to winning the presidency,” Biden said in a statement shortly after the campaign was called. were voters in South Carolina.”
Biden aims to strengthen support among black voters at polling places
President Biden speaks at the nation’s first gala held by the South Carolina Democratic Party at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina, on January 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)
“Now, in 2024, the people of South Carolina have once again raised their voices. There is no room for that.”
Mr. Biden will be joined by Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, the most likely candidate in the Democratic primary, and Marianne Williamson, a best-selling author and spiritual advisor who is running for the White House for the second year in a row. I defeated two of Mr.
A week and a half earlier, the president was not on the ballot in New Hampshire because Democrats held a primary in violation of the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 nominating calendar. But thanks to a well-funded write-in campaign by top Granite State Democrats, he still received 64% of the vote.
There were no delegates vying for election in New Hampshire’s unofficial primary, but 55 delegates were competing in South Carolina’s primary, all of which Biden is expected to win.
For the first time, South Carolina, where black voters play a large role in the state’s Democratic Party politics, is at the front of the party’s official presidential nominating calendar.
And much of the credit goes to Biden, who orchestrated changes to the Democratic National Committee’s long-running nominating calendar to put the Palmetto State in first place.
Biden had a bigger mission in South Carolina this weekend than just winning the primary and collecting delegates.
President Biden greets a seated customer as Landry Phillips and Chynna Phillips, owners of the Regal Lounge barber shop and spa, look on on January 27, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
The president is aiming to solidify support among black voters in South Carolina and across the country. The voters who first propelled Biden to the Democratic nomination and ultimately to the White House four years ago appear to be less energized in 2024.
The president’s approval ratings among black voters, a key part of the Democratic Party’s base, have declined over the past three years, a major concern for his chances of re-election.
DNC Chair Nikki Haley, D-South Carolina, says ‘we’re not bailing you out’
In the 2022 midterm elections, black voters overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates, while Republicans gained more votes.
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for this year’s Republican nomination, is taking steps to appeal to black and Hispanic voters.
President Trump frequently cites support from black celebrities as a sign of his support in the black community. And South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a 2024 Republican White House candidate and the only Black Republican in the Senate who endorsed Trump last month, has become the former president’s top surrogate.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott (right) from South Carolina speaks while standing next to former President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 19, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Trump has suggested there is “even more enthusiasm” for him among minority voters, but there is little polling evidence to back up his claims.
But even a small shift in voters from Biden to Trump, or the possibility that some black voters, dissatisfied with the lack of progress on key issues, will sit out the 2024 election, Georgia, Michigan , Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which Biden narrowly won in 2020.
Black voters led Biden to a landslide victory in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary four years ago, igniting the 2020 campaign after an initial setback.
On February 29, 2020, Joe Biden, who won an overwhelming victory in the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina, delivers his victory speech. Joe Biden is flanked by his wife Jill and Congressman Jim Clyburn (South Carolina). state). (Fox News)
In a sign of the importance of black votes, the president launched his reelection effort last month at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine black parishioners were killed in a 2015 mass shooting.
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But some Democratic leaders have expressed concern about the president’s overwhelming support among some black voters.
The president enjoys the support of the DNC as he seeks a second term in the White House, and back in his home state, national party chairman Jamie Harrison told Fox News Digital from Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday morning, “This “That’s what the president wanted,” he said. To send a signal to Black people, not just here in South Carolina, but across the country, that we see you, we hear you, and that you matter.
“That’s why it’s important for the president and vice president, first lady and second gentleman to show up and show up, even if they know they’re going to win.”. And they will win decisively. ”
Turnout in South Carolina’s Democratic primary was about a quarter of what it was four years ago, when the state had a widely open and competitive primary.
But the Biden campaign noted that Black voters make up three-quarters of the electorate, up 20 points from 2020.
While results were being counted in South Carolina, Mr. Biden was in California for meetings and campaign fundraising.
But after the race was called, he joined the South Carolina Democratic Party’s celebration.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“What’s up?” he joked during the phone call. “Words can’t express how grateful I am. And you’re not going to kick me out. I’ll be back.”
Next up is Nevada, where 36 delegates will be competing in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Biden and Williamson are on the ballot in the Silver State, but Phillips has not appeared on the ballot since declaring his candidacy for president in late October, after the state’s filing deadline passed.
Spanish-speaking voters, who are also gaining support from Republicans, play an influential role in Nevada elections.
Oddly enough, there are two contests for the Republican presidential nomination in Nevada. The Republican primary will be held on Tuesday, and the Republican caucus will also be held on Thursday.
In 2021, when Democrats took control of Nevada’s governor’s office and legislature, the state switched from caucuses to state-led primaries. However, the state Republican Party opposed it and ultimately decided to hold a caucus. There are no delegates at stake in the primary, but all 26 will be up for grabs in the caucuses.
Former President Trump is the only major candidate running in the caucuses, and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is the only major Republican candidate on the primary ballot.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
