Trump Wins South Carolina

Rubio edges out Cruz in tight race for No. 2; Bush finished disappointing 4th
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2016 6:40 PM CST
Updated Feb 21, 2016 12:03 AM CST
Trump Wins South Carolina
Donald Trump speaks to members of the audience at a CNN town hall at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Donald Trump has officially won the South Carolina primary, report the AP, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News, with 32.25% of the vote. It's the second victory in a row for the billionaire, and a key one in the South, where Ted Cruz invested heavily. This in spite of exit polls that showed that some four in 10 voters made up their minds at the last minute and many broke for Cruz and Marco Rubio; with all votes counted, Rubio edged out Cruz 22.5% to 22.3% in a tight race for second place, reports Politico. Jeb Bush finished a distant fourth with 7.8% of the vote in a state that has favored his family for three decades, leading him to drop out.

Adding insult to injury were John Kasich at 7.6% and Ben Carson at 7.2%. Carson spoke early to his supporters to assure them that he's not dropping out. "There's nothing easy about running for president I can tell you," Trump said in his victory speech. "It's tough, it's nasty, it's mean, it's vicious, it's beautiful. When you win it's beautiful. We're going to start winning for our country." (More South Carolina primary stories.)

Get breaking news in your inbox.
What you need to know, as soon as we know it.
Sign up
Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X