Columbia, United States (AFP) — Hillary Clinton has won South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary by a wide margin, US networks projected, handing her a welcome victory over Bernie Sanders before the high-stakes “Super Tuesday” contest.
“To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you,” Clinton tweeted as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all called the vote in her favor at the close of polls on Saturday.
Huge cheers broke out at the venue in Columbia, South Carolina, where Clinton was due to deliver a victory speech to supporters.
“It’s time, it’s time, it’s time for a woman in the White House,” the crowd chanted.
Sanders immediately congratulated his rival, while vowing to fight on for the party’s presidential nomination.
“This campaign is just beginning,” he said in a statement.
“We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it’s on to Super Tuesday.”
Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage of the nomination race, having already won two of the previous three contests — in Iowa, narrowly, and Nevada.
She had been predicted an easy victory in South Carolina, where her campaign worked hard to win the support of the state’s large black population.
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