By Camelia Heins
The South Carolina Democratic presidential primary took place on Feb. 29. Several primaries took place for “Super Tuesday” on March 3.
In the South Carolina Democratic primary, former vice president Joe Biden came in first place with 48.4% of votes. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders followed him in second place with 19.9% of votes. Businessman Tom Steyer came in third place with 11.3% of votes. In fourth place was former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg with 8.2% of votes. Lastly, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren came in fifth place with 7.1% of votes.
The Republican Party did not hold a primary in South Carolina.
Biden received 39 delegates for placing first in the South Carolina primary. Sanders received 15 delegates and all other candidates received 0 delegates.
These delegates are chosen based on their state and are “delegated” to represent their said candidate. Delegates help decide who wins the presidential nomination for each party, depending on how many delegates each candidate receives.
All the Democratic primaries allocate delegates proportionally based on a candidate’s placing during the primary. For Republican primaries, some states follow the proportional method while other states follow a winner-takes-all method for delegate selection.
On March 3, called “Super Tuesday” for the large number of states holding primaries on the day, the following 14 states cast votes:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
In the California primary, as of writing, 90% of votes are reported. Sanders is currently leading with 33.6% of votes. Biden is following in second with 24.9% of votes. Businessman Michael Bloomberg is in third place with 14.3% of votes. In fourth place is Warren with 12.0% of votes.
Biden won the following states: Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine and Texas.
Sanders won Vermont, Colorado, Utah, and California.
On the Republican side, Donald Trump won 13 out of the 14 states on “Super Tuesday” because Virginia did not hold a Republican primary.
As of writing, Biden is leading in overall delegates with 566. Sanders follows with 501 overall delegates. In third, Warren has 61 overall delegates. Bloomberg has 53 delegates.
On the Republican side, Trump holds 833 overall delegates. Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, has 1 delegate.
Two candidates, Buttigieg and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, dropped out on March 2, one day before the “Super Tuesday” primaries. Both candidates endorsed Biden after dropping out.
Bloomberg dropped out after the “Super Tuesday” primaries due to poor results across all states that participated.
Six state primaries will take place on March 10. After that, four more states will participate in primaries on March 17.
