COLUMBIA, SC. (WJBF)- Former President Donald Trump has won the South Carolina Republican Presidential Primary.
The victory comes in a landslide, as Trump faced off against former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Haley made multiple trips to the CSRA during her campaign–including recent stops at USC-Aiken and North Augusta.
But voters and Trump supporters made their message clear Saturday evening–South Carolina is Trump Territory.
Several state leaders were in attendance during the watch party, including Governor Henry McMaster, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, and Senator Tim Scott–who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the Presidential race in November.
“Let me just ask you one survey question,” said Scott, “and you better answer it loud and clear–Is South Carolina Trump country?”
Voters giving an emphatic yes, but once results came in they say they weren’t too surprised.
“I knew he would. I knew he would do that. I know because we need him,” said Bang Hall.
Others say they are excited because they know Trump will work on the crisis at the border.
Following the death of 22-year-old AU Nursing student Laken Riley, UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark revealed she was murdered by 26-year-old Jose Ibarra–who is not a U.S. citizen.
“We all know we need to get the wall done, and get the illegals back home. And he’ll do it safely. It’s a known fact that you need to help the people within,” said Charles Bibbs.
While addressing the crowd in Columbia, Trump told supporters how important their votes were to move the country in the right direction.
“You look outside, and you see all the horror. You see millions and millions of people coming across the border illegally. We don’t know where they come from. They come from jails, they come from prisons, they come from all sorts of places, they come from mental institutions and insane asylums–and we don’t want that in our country, we’re not gonna stand for it.”
Trump is now one step closer to being the 2nd President to serve two non-consecutive terms.
The only U.S. president to do so was Grover Cleveland–he served his first term from 1885 to 1889, and his second from 1893 to 1897.
Young supporters of Trump say he’s the kind of person they want to see back in the White House.
“It’s awesome, and what I like about him is he really supports the USA.”
“He’s a good guy, and he won South Carolina.”
Trump left his supporters with a word of encouragement to enjoy the moment–but says the job isn’t done.
“South Carolina–thank you very much. Go home, get rest, we have a lot of work ahead of us. We love you all, God bless you all.”
Now that the former president has won the Palmetto state, Trump says he’s already looking at the next steps of his campaign.
He will head north for the Michigan Republican Primary next week, along with Super Tuesday the week after.
Early voting in Georgia runs through Friday, March 8th, with election day scheduled for Tuesday, March 12th.
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