Clinton Wins Landslide Victory In South Carolina's Democratic Primary
SOUTH CAROLINA (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina. She won the overwhelming support of black voters on her way to a commanding victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Moments after she clinched a win in the South Carolina Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton tweeted: "To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you.''
"I am so greatly appreciative, because today you sent a message. When we stand together there is no barrier too big to break," she told a crowd of supporters during her victory speech. "And tomorrow, this campaign goes national!"
Clinton said America does not need to be made great again, because "America has never stopped being great.'' She said America needs to be made "whole again.''
In addition to keying off of Donald Trump's slogan, Clinton denounced the idea of building a wall, as Trump wants to do along the Mexican border. She says the country needs to be tearing down barriers, to equality and opportunity.
The win for Clinton is her third in the first four contests of the 2016 campaign, CBS2's Cindy Hsu reports. And it gives her a blowout to match Sanders' dominating triumph in New Hampshire. Her victory in South Carolina means she will pick up most of the state's delegates, widening her overall lead in the delegate count.
Early results of exit polls taken find that Clinton won the support of 8 in 10 African-Americans, who made up the majority of voters in Saturday's primary.
That bodes well for Clinton headed into Super Tuesday contests across the South, where several states are home to large populations of black voters.
With 53 delegates at stake, Clinton will receive at least 31. Bernie Sanders will pick up at least 12.
Clinton already holds a large lead among superdelegates, the party leaders and members of Congress who can support any candidate. Including superdelegates, Clinton now has at least 536 delegates, according to AP's count. Sanders has at least 83. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.
Sanders took to Twitter saying, "I am very proud of the campaign we ran and grateful for our grassroots supporters. This campaign is just beginning." Sanders notes that he won a "decisive victory'' in New Hampshire and she did the same in South Carolina.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed 12 hours later, at 7 p.m.
It might have been election Saturday in South Carolina, but the Democratic candidates for president already have Tuesday on their mind. That's when 11 states and American Samoa hold nominating contests in the 2016 race between Clinton and Sanders.
Sanders wasn't even scheduled to put in any South Carolina appearances on Saturday. He's supposed to be in Texas and Minnesota, two of the Super Tuesday states. He knew his prospects with South Carolina's heavily black Democratic electorate weren't great.
Donald Trump took home a big win in the South Carolina Republican primary earlier this week. It was the second-straight victory for the billionaire real estate mogul after his first-place finish in New Hampshire.
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