This week the action moves to the US state of South Carolina, which held its primary on Saturday. The state has a large African American community, and thus, is the initial test for the democratic party's candidates to show that they have the support of one of the party's biggest support group.

Hi! I am Nivedita Varadarajan, and I'll get you the latest news about the South Carolina primary, which was won by Former vice President Joe Biden. This time around, Joe Biden had invested a lot of political capital here: He has won the State with a big margin -- winning 48.6 per cent of the votes, to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders' 20 per cent.

 

Biden, as the former Vice President of Barak Obama, is viewd favourably by many of the older African-Americans, who see him as a tried and tested candidate. In fact, he won around 3 in 5 black votes.

Biden had repeatedly called South Carolina his "firewall" -- the one must-win in the four early voting states. With heavy losses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, the stakes were very high for him. Even so, Biden has a 20% lead over 2nd placed Sanders. An elevated Biden made a pitch to those democrats who have not yet made up their minds. He said and I quote: "If the Democrats want a nominee who's a democrat, a life-long democrat, a proud democrat, an Obama- Biden democrat -- then join us!" He has won 33 of the possible 63 delegates, while Sanders won 11.  Billionaire Tom Steyer, who was polling third, won 11 per cent votes. After the results, he dropped out of the race saying : " I can't see a path where I can win the presidency. I have no regrets."  

Mayor Pete Buttigieg came a distant fourth, while Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren rounds off the top five list. This win is very important for Biden, as the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to be the democratic party's nominee in every election cycle since 1992, with the exception of John Kerry in 2008.

Meanwhile, the Republicans had another quite day, as they party decided not to hold a primary in state. But, they looked to take advantage of the state’s open primary system by calling for party men and women to vote for "weakest candidate" Bernie Sanders, because they believe that Trump can easily beat him in the Presidential elections. It is not clear if this strategy worked as Biden has won with a large margin.  

There is another reason to keenly observe this primary – the results will have an impact on all the States going to polls on “Super Tuesday”, which will be held on March 3. On “Super Tuesday”, 14 States and the territory of American Samoa cast their votes. 34 per cent of all Democratic pledged delegates will be decided on the day.

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg will officially be on the ballot – finally! He has spent $460 million of his own money on campaigning so far, with $410 million on TV ads. This amount is more than what Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spent during their entire presidential runs in 2016. His copious spending has prompted severe criticism from his opponents, accusing him of trying to use his enormous wealth to “buy” the elections. His ad campaign has been successful so far, he has made his way to second place in most national polls, with the latest CBS/YouGov poll giving him a 13% preference nationally.  On Tuesday, we will find out if his steady rise will translate into actual votes or if he loses out to the more established Biden and front-runner Sanders. So far, Sanders leads in the delegate-rich California, Texas, Utah and five other states. Biden leads in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Inspite of spending lots of money, Bloomberg leads in only Oklahoma. Amy Klobuchar  leads in her home state of Minnesota, while Warren is currently trails Sanders in her home state of Massachusetts.  

I’ll bring the latest updates from the elections in the various Super Tuesday states next time. Stay tuned!

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