Trump supporters rally in Columbia on primary night
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – A crowd of supporters will join former President Donald Trump at the state fairgrounds in Columbia on Saturday night as they await results from the state’s Republican presidential preference primary.
Polls close at 7:00 p.m. and results will begin reporting shortly after.
With the former president polling at an average of about 23% ahead of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, most of the voters who spoke to News 2 feel like they know who may win this primary race.
The real question is: by how much? That could make a big difference tonight and the race for the Republican party’s nomination moving forward.
Supporters gathered from around the state – and even from across the country in hopes of watching their candidate of choice win in South Carolina.
As soon as you step foot into the watch part, there is no mistaking which candidate the watch party is for – from flags waving to a sea of people dressed head-to-toe in attire all showing their support for former President Trump on this primary election night.
The line to get into the venue remained steady with many arriving early in the afternoon, eager to get inside and hear from their candidate.
“He is for the people and for America,” said Jackie Briant, who traveled from Gaffney. “He is standing so strong, and we are going to stand with him every step of the way.”
“I miss the $1.87 gallon gas. Under Biden, we’ve had record highs in gas in the history of our country,” said John Peterson, who traveled from North Charleston.
Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said turnout shows voters in the Palmetto State are very enthusiastic about Saturday’s election. He is anticipating this could be a record-breaking election for the state.
“Turnout. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is huge. Early voting turnout is 208,000 for us across the state. Contrast with the Democratic Party’s 132,000 turnout for their entire primary, including primary day — we beat that by 75,000 votes before we even got to Saturday. So, enthusiasm is with the Republican party right now. We are looking to break our turnout record right now is 765,000 which was set back in the 2016 presidential primary and we believe we will beat that today,” said McKissick.
Meanwhile, some have been encouraging Democrats to vote for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary. When we asked about that, McKissick said they have seen more conservative Democrats voting in the GOP primary over the years, so he would not be surprised if former President Trump might win the vote of self-described Democrat voters in Saturday’s race.
We also asked what Haley would need to do in South Carolina on primary night to be a game-changer for her campaign.
“By her own admission, after the New Hampshire primary, she made the point that she needed to do better here in South Carolina than she did in New Hampshire. Former President Trump won New Hampshire by 12 points. So, the voters and the viewers are going to be the judge tonight if she met that Standard,” he said.
Haley previously told News 2 that she needs to narrow the gap with Trump, similar to what she was able to do in New Hampshire. Results after the polls close will tell if she was able to make that happen.
