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Donald Trump wins South Carolina primary
Allan Smith
REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstDonald Trump.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump just scored his second
victory of the election season by winning the South Carolina primary on
Saturday.
Trump was declared the winner shortly after South Carolina poll sites closed at 7 p.m. EST.
With 73% of precincts reporting, Trump held a nearly 11-point lead over Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
"What a great night. Thank you South Carolina, a special place with truly amazing people! LOVE," Trump tweeted Saturday evening.
Trump began his victory speech earlier in the night by thanking his
local supporters and South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, who
endorsed him. He said he'd take McMaster over South Carolina Gov. Nikki
Haley, who endorsed Rubio "any time."
He then turned the stage over to his wife, Melania Trump.
"Just want to say an amazing place South Carolina," she said.
"Congratulations to my husband, he was working very hard, and he loves
you. We love you, and we are going ahead to Nevada and we will see what
happens. He will be the best president."
Then Trump had his daughter, Ivanka Trump, speak to his supporters.
"Thank you South Carolina, this is an amazing, amazing night," she
said. "The momentum since the beginning of this campaign has been
unbelievable. ... My father is an incredibly hard worker and he will be
working for each and every one of you and together, we will make America
great again."
Retaking the mic, Trump then took a second to call out political
pundits who said that, once other candidates dropped out, Trump would
likely be able to be taken out.
"A number of the pundits said, 'Well, if a couple of the other
candidates drop out, if you add their scores together it's going to
equal Trump,'" he said. "They're geniuses. They don't understand that as
people drop out, I'm going to get a lot of those votes also, so you
don't just add them together."
He then congratulated Cruz and Rubio for doing "quite well" in the state.
REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstDonald Trump.
Trump's win is
very historically significant, as he just joined a very exclusive group of candidates.
Only three Republican candidates prior ro Trump have won both the New
Hampshire and South Carolina primaries in contested years. Those three,
Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and 1992, and John
McCain in 2008, went on to win the nomination.
In addition, just one South Carolina primary winner has not been the
Republican nominee — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich won in
2012, but lost the nomination to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Most polls had given Trump a big edge heading into the primary. He
held a 13-point lead over Rubio and Cruz, per the RealClearPolitics
average of recent polls there.
The South Carolina victory followed an easy win for Trump in New
Hampshire and a second-place showing in Iowa. The Republican caucuses in
Nevada will weigh in on the GOP primary on Tuesday.
Trump also tweeted that he would have been happy with a single-vote victory:
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