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Election live: Donald Trump wins South Carolina primary South Carolina primary live: Trump wins as Rubio and Cruz fight for second
(35 minutes later)
1.19am GMT
01:19
Kasich for America chief strategist John Weaver issued the following statement tonight after the polls closed in South Carolina, with the Ohio governor currently in fifth place with 8% of the vote in the Palmetto State, with 25.5% of precincts reporting:
Tonight it became a four-person race for the nomination. Only four candidates have top-three finishes in any of the early states and can justify staying in. At the same time, John Kasich has now won the so-called ‘Governors Bracket’ by continuing to run strong and beat expectations. While others were making their last stand in South Carolina, John Kasich strengthened his organization and support - despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars. He also focused on the key states ahead for us, like Michigan, where he is currently second, Massachusetts and Vermont. Next week the governor campaigns in Virginia - where he is third, Georgia, and other states where he is rising. As the race narrows to four candidates and enters the next phase, it also turns toward states that favor the governor and make his path to the nomination increasingly clear.
1.14am GMT
01:14
Scott Bixby
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton took to the stage in Las Vegas after her win against rival Bernie Sanders in the state’s Democratic caucuses earlier this evening.
Clinton’s victory was announced after just less than 65% of the precincts had reported results. Clinton told the gathered audience that her success is due to her supporters “who never wavered”, and said her campaign was about breaking down barriers.
Updated
at 1.16am GMT
1.13am GMT
01:13
Adam Gabbatt
Everyone seems to be having a pretty good time at Jeb Bush’s party. But that might have something to do with the fact there is no television in here. There’s no way to follow the results at all.
I just spoke to one supporter who was brutally honest. Mark Sterling, 21, was wearing a Jeb! sticker and holding a sign. He likes Bush because of his strong stance on gun control, he said.
“I’m a hunter. That’s something I enjoy.”
Sterling studies at the University of South Carolina but is registered to vote in his home state of Maryland. He doesn’t fancy Bush’s chances of making it that far.
“Realistically I’ll vote for Trump by the time we get to Maryland.”
Additional note: Sterling, here on the right, is wearing an outfit identical to 90% of Republican males under 30. He said he did not deliberately coordinate with his friend.
1.08am GMT
01:08
Scott Bixby
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made a speech to his supporters in Las Vegas just a few moments ago following his loss in the state to rival Hillary Clinton.
Sanders told the crowd that the key issue of his campaign has been momentum – “bringing more and more people into the political process” – but he also targeted the “corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy.”
1.06am GMT
01:06
Scott Bixby
As it stands, you could combine Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio’s support in the South Carolina Republican primaries and they would still have lost to Donald Trump.
Related: Live results: South Carolina primary and Nevada caucuses, county by county
12.59am GMT
00:59
Scott Bixby
The chattering classes are borderline apoplectic
Donald Trump’s win in South Carolina - a state famous for its social conservatism, hawkish views on foreign policy and distrust of an expansive federal government - has longtime politicos in a state of shock.
Trump won this week despite coming out for health care mandate, defending planned parenthood, blaming Bush for 9/11, standing by impeachment
Seismic: @realDonaldTrump blamed George W Bush for 9/11, called him Iraq WMD liar -- & wins GOP primary in conservative South Carolina.
This guy called Ted Cruz a p--sy, said W lied about WMD, got into a fight with the Pope, peddled an nasty anti-Muslim hoax, and STILL won SC
How do you think Trump pulled it off? Give us your takes in the comments!
12.58am GMT
00:58
Jeb Lund
From Guardian US columnist Jeb Lund, who has spent the night watching CNN so you don’t have to:
CNN ANCHOR WOLF BLITZER: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to an exciting night of Politicsball. The candidates are just emerging onto the field. This is going to be a great day for Politicsball. And it looks like it could be very exci—
CNN ANCHOR JAKE TAPPER: I’d just like to cut in here for a moment, Wolf. After 13 seconds and with 1% of the vote in, Donald Trump has won the South Carolina primary.
BLITZER: Well, um, we know that you’re looking at that very closely, and, uhhhh, this is something that we’ll be looking at very closely through the rest of the night, with your CNN election team, looking, ah, very closely. But that, ahhhhh, that brings up how it looks like the other candidates will fare. There’s still a lot of time left on the clock. And we have to be on the air for several hours yet.
REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST GLORIA BORGER: That’s the thing, we have to look at Marco Rubio. We’re not in the bottom of the 9th yet. What is he doing? What does he have to do? I think he has to play his game. He can’t play their game. He has to stay within himself, not try to do too much, not try to force that pitch out there.
DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST PAUL BEGALA: That’s true, but Ted Cruz is a strong competitor and has a chance at second. A lot of people says he has no chemistry with the Republican establishment. They hate him. But you know what good chemistry is? Winning. The 1977 Yankees were a mess, but nobody cares about the locker room when you win the next game.
FORMER CRUZ STAFFER AMANDA CARPENTER: But is there a next game for Bush? Bush changed his focus and stepped up to the plate with Donald Trump, started playing the man, not the ball, and I think that was a mistake. Bush was the crafty veteran. He was supposed to be thinking two pitches ahead, but Trump got into his head. He was thinking about the last pitch, not the next one.
RADIO HOST SMERCONISH: (haltingly) Michael Smerconish.
BLITZER: Not to be a Monday morning quarterback, but did Donald Trump do enough to deliver a knockout punch here in South Carolina? Or has moving too many lengths ahead meant that he’s dropped the ball, letting someone else intercept his message and start a Super Tuesday comeback by not trying to swing for the fences and just try to make it with the base?
ALL: It’s too soon to tell.
12.53am GMT
00:53
Matt Sullivan
In a counterpoint to the jubilant crowd at Donald Trump’s watch party in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the crowd at Ted Cruz’s watch party in Columbia is... despondent.
12.52am GMT
00:52
Voters want to change the way DC functions, and the only way to do that is to elect Donald Trump.
– Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, to reporters.
Related: Donald Trump wins South Carolina primary, opening clear path to nomination
Updated
at 12.59am GMT
12.44am GMT12.44am GMT
00:4400:44
Lee GlendinningLee Glendinning
The crowd at Donald Trump’s watch party - now victory rally - celebrates the New York billionaire’s victory in the South Carolina Republican primary.The crowd at Donald Trump’s watch party - now victory rally - celebrates the New York billionaire’s victory in the South Carolina Republican primary.
12.37am GMT12.37am GMT
00:3700:37
Scott BixbyScott Bixby
Within seconds of Fox News declaring that Texas senator Ted Cruz had finished in a disappointing third in the South Carolina Republican primary, the Cruz campaign staffer in charge of the audio switched the speakers at the event here at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia to a bracingly loud country music soundtrack.Within seconds of Fox News declaring that Texas senator Ted Cruz had finished in a disappointing third in the South Carolina Republican primary, the Cruz campaign staffer in charge of the audio switched the speakers at the event here at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia to a bracingly loud country music soundtrack.
“Let’s put on some music in here!” a man in a newly purchased Cruz-branded jersey shouted to no one in particular.“Let’s put on some music in here!” a man in a newly purchased Cruz-branded jersey shouted to no one in particular.
The down-ballot results are still too close to call here in South Carolina.The down-ballot results are still too close to call here in South Carolina.
A Cruz spokesperson raced to the media table to clarify that Fox News had asked the campaign to change the audio, and that the broadcast was not muted out of terror.A Cruz spokesperson raced to the media table to clarify that Fox News had asked the campaign to change the audio, and that the broadcast was not muted out of terror.
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.39am GMTat 12.39am GMT
12.33am GMT12.33am GMT
00:3300:33
Scott BixbyScott Bixby
A lot of pursed lips at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds right now.A lot of pursed lips at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds right now.
At Ted Cruz’s watch party in Columbia, South Carolina, news that the Associated Press has called the South Carolina primary for bitter rival Donald Trump has dampened what was, at once point, a boisterous atmosphere.At Ted Cruz’s watch party in Columbia, South Carolina, news that the Associated Press has called the South Carolina primary for bitter rival Donald Trump has dampened what was, at once point, a boisterous atmosphere.
12.30am GMT12.30am GMT
00:3000:30
Donald Trump wins South Carolina primary – AP calls itDonald Trump wins South Carolina primary – AP calls it
Scott BixbyScott Bixby
The Associated Press has called the South Carolina Republican primary for New York billionaire Donald Trump.The Associated Press has called the South Carolina Republican primary for New York billionaire Donald Trump.
The win – Trump’s second since his double-digit victory in New Hampshire – further clears the first-time candidate’s path toward the Republican nomination for the White House.The win – Trump’s second since his double-digit victory in New Hampshire – further clears the first-time candidate’s path toward the Republican nomination for the White House.
With just a trickle of votes reporting so far, Trump has captured 32.5% of South Carolina’s Republican voters, beating Texas senator Ted Cruz’s 22.3% and Florida senator Marco Rubio’s 20.9%, according to preliminary estimates by the Associated Press. Jeb Bush languishes in a distant fourth place at 11.8%, in what may spell the final moments of the Bush dynasty’s latest bid for the presidency.With just a trickle of votes reporting so far, Trump has captured 32.5% of South Carolina’s Republican voters, beating Texas senator Ted Cruz’s 22.3% and Florida senator Marco Rubio’s 20.9%, according to preliminary estimates by the Associated Press. Jeb Bush languishes in a distant fourth place at 11.8%, in what may spell the final moments of the Bush dynasty’s latest bid for the presidency.
Trump has been the Republican frontrunner – both in South Carolina and nationally – since the first few weeks of his improbable candidacy, but with two of the first three presidential nominating contests having named him the winner, he is building a strong delegate lead that will make it even harder for his fellow candidates to catch up.Trump has been the Republican frontrunner – both in South Carolina and nationally – since the first few weeks of his improbable candidacy, but with two of the first three presidential nominating contests having named him the winner, he is building a strong delegate lead that will make it even harder for his fellow candidates to catch up.
Paired with a closer than anticipated finish for Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in Nevada’s dueling Democratic caucus earlier today, it’s shaping up to be a good night for outsiders.Paired with a closer than anticipated finish for Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in Nevada’s dueling Democratic caucus earlier today, it’s shaping up to be a good night for outsiders.
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.34am GMTat 12.34am GMT
12.22am GMT12.22am GMT
00:2200:22
Ben JacobsBen Jacobs
Exit polls showed that while Ted Cruz reliably won voters who described themselves as “very conservative” by a margin of 38% to 27% over Donald Trump, the real estate mogul narrowly edged the Texas senator among those Republican voters who identified as evangelical.Exit polls showed that while Ted Cruz reliably won voters who described themselves as “very conservative” by a margin of 38% to 27% over Donald Trump, the real estate mogul narrowly edged the Texas senator among those Republican voters who identified as evangelical.
Trump continued to build his coalition among voters who described themselves as angry and his supporters were disproportionately less educated. Trump got 38% of the vote among those without college degrees and only 24%, behind Rubio, among those with a college education.Trump continued to build his coalition among voters who described themselves as angry and his supporters were disproportionately less educated. Trump got 38% of the vote among those without college degrees and only 24%, behind Rubio, among those with a college education.
12.18am GMT
00:18
Lee Glendinning
The mood is buoyant at the Donald Trump party preparations in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with a vibrant crowd of supporters regularly breaking out into chants and plenty of cheese and crackers on hand.
12.10am GMT
00:10
Scott Bixby
Earlier today in Chapin, South Carolina, primary voters Jane and Bob, a retired teacher and Bell South employee, respectively, highlighted the surprisingly anti-establishment nature of this campaign cycle.
Jane, upon finding out her husband voted for Trump, was shocked.
“You did not!” she exclaimed.
Bob was apologetic. “We didn’t talk about it!”
When asked why she voted for Jeb Bush, Jane cited his policy on education. “I’m a retired teacher, and I think that Bush is the best for education, which nobody seems to talk about too much this year.”
For his part, Bob was less interested in particular policy points than the cultural shift that Trump represents. “Political correctness is dooming this country,” Bob said. “They all take money from outsiders, and Donald Trump has his own money.”
12.02am GMT
00:02
Richard Wolffe
Bernie Sanders may, like Steve Jobs, be living in a reality distortion field.
Delivering his speech in defeat in Nevada, he confidently declared the polls were moving his way. “We have made some real progress here,” he began. He said at the heart of the campaign was “the issue of momentum”, that he was closing the gap in the polls and that “we have come a very long way”.
All of which may be true – but it just isn’t enough because, well, he lost in Nevada.
“The wind is at our backs,” he said. “We have the momentum.”
All this comes a week before the Democratic primary in South Carolina, where Bernie is heading for what looks like a decisive defeat.
Sanders has promised one of the great political upsets at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July. He’s got to deliver a few more state-by-state upsets – more than just New Hampshire – before he can deliver on that promise.
Updated
at 12.09am GMT
12.01am GMT
00:01
Polls close in South Carolina Republican primary
Scott Bixby
Greetings from South Carolina, where the polls have just closed in the first-in-the-south primary election.
Your blog, which is also still in Nevada, is now half-embedded here at the primary-night watch party for Ted Cruz at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, the capital and largest city in the Palmetto State.
We’ve also got political reporter Ben Jacobs up in Spartanburg with Donald Trump and Sabrina Siddiqui here in Columbia with Marco Rubio ... plus Adam Gabbatt across town with perhaps the near-end of Jeb Bush and his family dynasty.
The mood in Cruz’s camp is an optimistic one as voters surged across the state in a primary that multiple precinct clerks told the Guardian is on pace to shatter voter turnout records. Although b Trump has run a double-digit lead in every South Carolina poll since, well, polling began, the Texas senator has been closing the gap over the past week, with Florida senator Marco Rubio hot on his heels in a battle for second place.
If our completely un-scientific exit polling – conducted at polling stations in Chapin, Prosperity, Newberry, Greenville and Daniel Island, South Carolina – is any indication, Saturday’s primary is Trump’s to lose. (The TV networks’ exit polls, which are yours to distrust, say Cruz is doing pretty well but Trump’s got the edge.)
Mark Rushton of Chapin told the Guardian that all members of congress should be kicked out of government after their second term, and that his vote for Trump was a vote against career politicians. “All the politicians are lining their pockets – Trump’s got his own pockets!”
Cruz, however, is banking on voters like Debbie Nogueira of Greenville, who have been turned off by Trump’s braggadocio and inconsistent support of conservative causes. “It was a hard decision – I didn’t even know until last week who I was gonna vote for,” Nogueira told the Guardian. “It was more about voting against Donald Trump than anything. I don’t like his attitude, he doesn’t seem to be of presidential material. He had Democratic opinions until five years ago, when he decided he could win as a Republican!”
The results are expected to roll in relatively quickly, so stay tuned for our moment-by-moment rundown of Saturday night’s live battle down south ...
Updated
at 12.07am GMT
11.59pm GMT
23:59
Maria L La Ganga
Jen Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director, addressed reporters at her victory party.
People are looking for a president that can take care of all the problems people are facing and that can remove all the barriers that are holding them back... Since coming out of Iowa she has been speaking about and demonstrated ... by going to Flint that it’s not just economics, although that’s also important, it’s about creating jobs and it’s about removing other barriers, whether it’s about holding people back from being able to afford college or health care or housing discrimination or here in Nevada where they’re recovering from the housing mess, that she’s someone who can deal with all the problems and deliver results.
Senator Sanders has run a very good campaign. He speaks very passionately to a lot of the anger, justifiably so that eople feel here. But we think that the longer the campaign goes on the more apparent it becomes as she makes her argument that she has solutions that will actually work and make a difference in people’s lives for all the barriers that hold them back. The most core principle that has motivated her all of her life is doing whatever she can to removing the barriers that stand in people’s way for having opportunity.
She said tonight ... that the country can’t live to its potential until each of us can live up to our own. That’s what’s always motivated her.
I don’t know the actual numbers RE unions, Maria reports, but it’s something that she and president Clinton spent a lot of time working on and they were very supportive of her in the past. We’ll have to see what the exit polls say.
11.56pm GMT
23:56
Sanders supporter cheers him into stage pic.twitter.com/H16y4pJEgt
Sanders supporters cheer him as if he won in Nevada pic.twitter.com/61gDEBGpdr
Sanders supporters at post caucus rally still enthused but pavilion less than half full pic.twitter.com/Txdg98wnsm
As Sanders leaves stage Bowie's Starman playing on speakers
11.53pm GMT
23:53
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus released the following statement on the Nevada caucus:
Hillary Clinton’s surprising underperformance in a state she should have won handily is another blow for her struggling campaign. Coming off a disastrous 22-point loss in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton fell far short of the resounding victory she needed to calm the nerves of the Democrat establishment. Just weeks ago, the Clinton campaign was projecting a blowout but they once again had to pull out all of the stops to avoid another loss.
The fact Bernie Sanders has shown the ability to compete anywhere on the map says as much about Democrats’ dissatisfaction with Hillary Clinton and her weaknesses as a candidate as it does about the sharp left turn their Party has taken. A prolonged nominating contest where Hillary Clinton is forced to outflank a self-avowed socialist will only make it easier for Republicans to recapture the White House.
11.47pm GMT
23:47
Lastly, as you know, taking on the establishment - whether it is the political establishment, the economic establishment - is not easy.
But, he continues, “we have the momentum; and I believe that when Democrats assemble in Philadelphia in July at that convention, we are going to see the results of one of the great political upsets in the history of the United States.”
The crowd goes wild.
“Now it’s on to Super Tuesday,” he finishes.
Not a subdued concession speech - a much more aggressive tack taken by senator Sanders there.
11.44pm GMT
23:44
He thanks his supporters; his “thousands of volunteers, including many of you, for working tirelessly. I want to thank our staff for the great job that they have done.”
“I am especially proud that here in Nevada - we’re seeing this all over the country - we are bringing working people, young people into the political process in a way we have not seen for a very long time.”
He says in a short time, he will be “on a plane to South Carolina.”
I believe, on Super Tuesday, we have got a chance to win many of those states.
Now he hits out at Clinton: “But I also know that on Super Tuesday and before, we will be taking on a very powerful and well funded super PAC, which receives money from wall street and special interests.”
Updated
at 11.47pm GMT
11.42pm GMT
23:42
What this entire campaign has been about is the issue of momentum - the issue of bringing more people into the political process. When we began in Iowa we were 50 points behind. We were 44 points behind in New Hampshire. We were a long way behind here.
He hits out at the “corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining our democracy.”
If Hillary Clinton’s speech was practically an inaugural address, Sanders’ speech is a Greatest Hits album.
The American people are catching on that we have a rigged economy - people working two or three hours, longer and longer hours, for all income to go to the top one percent.
Updated
at 11.47pm GMT