Donald Trump Wins South Carolina's Republican Primary, Defeating Nikki Haley in Her Home State

Mar. 15, 2025

Nikki Haley addresses South Carolinians in Beaufort on Wednesday ahead of the state’s Republican primary.Photo:JULIA NIKHINSON/AFP via Getty

JULIA NIKHINSON/AFP via Getty

Donald Trumpsecured a gratifying victory in South Carolina on Saturday that sends a warning message toNikki Haley’s underdog campaign:Even in your home state, the Republican Party wants me.

Primary polling prepared Haley for defeat in her state’s Republican primary, which put 50 delegates up for grabs. Trump automatically gets 29 delegates for winning the state’s overall vote, and the remaining delegates are allotted in sets of three based on who wins in each congressional district.

Haley, who served as South Carolina’s first female governor from 2011 to 2017, has yet to win a 2024 primary contest. But as she argues, only four states have voted so far — and in one of those contests, she was shafted from receiving delegates.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Haley said during a televised speech on Tuesday, committing to staying in the race regardless of her performance in South Carolina. “People have a right to have their voices heard and they deserve a real choice, not aSoviet-style electionwhere there’s only one candidate and he gets 99% of the vote.”

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty

While Haley struggles to pull Republican voters away from Trump, the former president has turned his priorities elsewhere: he’s currently scrambling to pay offmore than $500 million in court fines, preparing for his first criminal trial to begin, andworking to install his daughter-in-lawand other election deniers in RNC leadership before his situation has a chance to get worse.

This week Haley criticized Trump for making himself out as a victim, telling Republicans, “He’s going to be in court March and April, May and June. He has said himself he is going to spend more time in a courtroom than he is on the campaign trail.”

Haley recently toldNBC Newsthat “there is no way” Americans are going to get behind a convicted criminal if his trials end in guilty verdicts. “They’re not.”

The next Republican primary contest will be held in Michigan on Tuesday.

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source: people.com