COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former Vice President Joe Biden scored a convincing victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, riding a wave of African American support and ending progressive rival Bernie Sanders’ winning streak.
The Vermont senator claimed second place, though his loss gave a momentary respite to anxious establishment Democrats who feared that the self-described democratic socialist would finish February with four consecutive top finishes.
Biden’s win came at a do-or-die moment in his 2020 bid as the moderate Democrat bounced back from underwhelming performances in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. The race pivots immediately to a new phase when 14 “Super Tuesday” states — including Maine — take the campaign nationwide early next week.
Biden’s allies almost immediately cast the South Carolina victory as proof that he should stand as the clear alternative to Sanders. Standing in Biden’s way is former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, who has spent more than half a billion dollars courting voters in dozens of states yet to vote.
The South Carolina primary was the first major test of the candidates’ appeal among black voters. While it gave the 77-year-old Biden a win when he most needed it, he must still prove that he has the resources to dramatically expand his campaign in the next 72 hours.
Sanders was already peeking ahead to Super Tuesday, betting he can amass an insurmountable delegate lead at that point. After two consecutive victories and a tie for the lead in Iowa, the 78-year-old Vermont senator’s confidence is surging.
In a power play, Sanders hosted a midday rally Saturday in downtown Boston, campaigning in the heart of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s political turf. Sanders’ senior adviser Jeff Weaver was among the staffers dispatched to California on Saturday.
He said Sanders is aggressively hunting for delegates, noting that their campaign’s experience during the 2016 primary against Hillary Clinton taught them that any candidate who finishes Super Tuesday with a significant delegate advantage will be difficult to catch.
“I’m confident we’re going to do very, very well across the country,” Weaver said of the coming days. He also sought to downplay the importance of South Carolina, where Biden was “expected to win.”
Moments after Biden’s victory was confirmed, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe formally endorsed the former vice president and encouraged the Democratic Party’s moderate wing to unite behind him. On CNN, he called on several candidates to get out of the race — “not after Tuesday, but tomorrow.”
But the Democrats’ 2020 primary election isn’t yet a two-person race.
In South Carolina, billionaire activist Tom Steyer spent more than $19 million on television advertising — more than all the other candidates combined — in his quest for his first top finish in four contests. At his state campaign headquarters on Saturday, Steyer said he felt optimistic going into the vote and was looking ahead to trips to Alabama and Texas, two Super Tuesday states.
Not ceding anything, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is fighting to prove he can build a multiracial coalition. And with the help of super PACs, Warren and Klobuchar vowed to keep pushing forward no matter how they finished on Saturday.
Still, Saturday was all about Biden and whether he might convince anxious establishment Democrats to rally behind him at last.
African American voters in South Carolina backed Biden over any other candidate by a significant margin, according to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate. Close to half of black voters supported him, compared with 2 in 10 supporting Sanders and about the same for businessman Tom Steyer. There was also evidence that Biden’s status as former President Barack Obama’s two-term vice president helped him win over African Americans.
Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Thomas Beaumont in Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.