SATURDAY, Feb. 20 proved an important day for big-name candidates, including Donald Trump, who won his second consecutive presidential primary in South Carolina, advancing in the race for the Republican Party. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also took home the prize in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses.
Clinton, using organization as her performance tactic, declared victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, putting her back in command to win over the Democratic Party. With 88 percent of the votes counted, Clinton held an unassailable lead with 52.6 percent, compared to 47.4 percent for Sanders.
“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other,” Clinton told her supporters at an appearance in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. “This one is for you.”
She continued, “it is not enough, simply to give voice to the anxiety and frustrations many voters feel. Americans have a right to be angry. But we’re also hungry for real solutions.”
It was a stunning performance for Clinton, who gained a majority of minority voters’ strong support (particularly black voters), and is also favored in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 27. Clinton also carried the women’s vote in Nevada by a sizable margin.
“We are going to be taking on a very powerful and well-funded super PAC–a super PAC that receives significant amounts of money from Wall Street and wealthy special interests,” said a disappointed Sanders to his supporters in Henderson, just outside of Vegas.
Both Democratic candidates have expressed parallel views on the minimum wage, higher education, immigration reform, and other key issues. Sanders has gone even further by proposing free tuition for all.
The battle amounted to a personality contest, over which candidate voters believed was more likely and qualified to deliver their platform promises.
Various organizations noted that the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) vote helped Clinton secure Nevada.
CAPA21, a national AAPI political action committee, launched a $50,000 outreach campaign using direct mailers, ethnic media ads, and a new website (NevadaAAPI.com) to target AAPI voters in Nevada and encourage them to support Clinton.
Hundreds of volunteers from Nevada, California and even the East Coast were also deployed to get voters to caucus. Filipino Americans for Hillary organized walks to over 50 Fil-Am businesses through the Las Vegas area.
“There were so many AAPI who had no clue what a caucus was,” Rozita Lee, a Fil-Am grassroots political leader and former member of the White House Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, told NBC News. According to exit polling from Saturday, AAPIs made up 4 percent of the caucus-goers.
Trump succeeds in South Carolina
“It is no surprise that the candidates have been delivering what their voters want. On the Republican side, that has meant a focus on income inequality and tough rhetoric about the wealthy. Among Republicans, the emphasis has been on a sharply conservative view of the world and the issues the country faces,” wrote Los Angeles Times reporter Cathleen Decker in a political analysis.
With 99 percent of the votes counted in the Republican primary in South Carolina, Trump was in the lead (at 32.5 percent), with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio narrowly taking second (22.5 percent), before Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (22.3 percent). Jeb Bush trailed in fourth at 7.8 percent, just ahead of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (7.6 percent) and retired Michigan neurosurgeon Ben Carson (7.2 percent).
“Let’s put this thing away,” Trump, leading a wild establishment-smashing campaign and taking on his critics (including Pope Francis), told supporters in Spartanburg, South Carolina. “There’s nothing easy about running for president. It’s tough. It’s nasty. It’s mean. It’s vicious. It’s beautiful.”
“When you win, it’s beautiful, and we are going to start winning for our country,” he added.
Trump won nearly every group of voters in the GOP: military, non-military, conservatives, moderates, men and women, voters who wanted someone who “tells it like it is.” Evangelicals also dominated the primary electorate in the state (about 3 in 4 voters, according to Edison Research), and largely supported Trump.
According to a Fox News poll, 40 percent of voters surveyed said that Trump was the candidate “they would most dread watching on television for the next four years.”
Cruz nearly tied for second place with Sen. Rubio, who took more of the educated and minority vote, while Kasich and Carson vowed to hold on despite poorer finishes.
“If it is God’s will that we should win this election,” Rubio said, “then history will say, on this night in South Carolina, we took the first step forward to the beginning of a new American century.”
Meanwhile Jeb Bush, who entered the race last year as the Republican front-runner and reportedly spent the most funds in campaigning and attracting high-profile endorsements, dropped his candidacy after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary (7.8 percent), reported CNN.
“In this campaign, I have stood my ground,” Bush said, announcing his official exit, and signaling the possible end of his family’s long hold on the Republican Party. “Despite what you have heard, ideas matter. Policy matters.”
“I firmly believe the American people must entrust this office to someone who understands that whoever holds it is a servant, not the master, someone who will commit to that service with honor and decency,” Bush said in his remarks, clearly implicating Trump.
On Tuesday, Feb. 23, it was the Republicans’ turn to caucus in Nevada. As of press time, the votes had not been counted.
