100 days out from SC’s Democratic presidential primary, here’s where the contest stands
South Carolina’s Democratic voters now have 100 days to go before they vote for their preference for the party’s presidential nominee.
As of Thursday, 17 contenders continue to crisscross the country in their hopes of unseating President Donald Trump, limiting him to one, four-year term.
A lot has happened over the past year in national politics. But the drama extended beyond the D.C. bubble.
South Carolina’s 2020 politics got its slice of fun, too. Here’s where the S.C. contest stands.
What the polls say
Former Vice President Joe Biden has consistently led in polls of voters in and out of South Carolina, despite a late primary race entry.
A Quinnipiac Poll out Monday reported Biden with 33% of support among all of the state’s likely Democratic primary voters.
Most of his support comes from South Carolina’s black voters — around 44% according to two of the latest national polls — who make up two-thirds of the state’s Democratic Party voting bloc. (Still, about 20% of black S.C. voters remain undecided, the poll said.)
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts came in second with 13% in the Quinnipiac poll, while U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont finished third with 11%.
South Carolina appears to be Biden’s firewall according to polls, while other candidates — namely, Buttigieg, Sanders and Warren — have jockeyed for lead positions in other early primary states.
SC investment ramps up
As the Palmetto State’s Feb. 29 presidential primary nears, a handful of campaigns have increased their investment of resources in the state.
Buttigieg added three new staffers over the month while the Biden and Warren campaigns now have more than 40 paid staffers.
Despite dropping in the polls, the campaigns for Harris and Sanders have maintained some of the largest operations in the state — both with more than 50 paid staffers and at least five offices.
Meanwhile, other campaigns have cut back.
Skipping the option to quit the race altogether — a la former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas — former U.S. housing secretary Julián Castro laid off his South Carolina staff to focus on other early voting states.
The race for SC cash
If fundraising is any an indicator of support in the state, Sanders is doing well.
As of Sept. 30, Sanders has more contributions than other candidates from in state donors, having received 3,607 donations this year from S.C. contributors who have given at least $200 — more than Biden’s roughly 1,175 contributions. Buttigieg has received 1,155 contributions from S.C. donors, according to Federal Elections Commission data.
However, Biden is winning the cash race in South Carolina.
He has raised more than $444,000 from S.C. donors, Buttigieg has received about $178,600, and Sanders has garnered about $128,400.
Warren’s financial support from the state wasn’t as high. She has received $75,700 from 765 contributions.
Harris’ campaign has received 686 contributions, totaling about $66,000.
Is there a wildcard?
Whether Michael Bloomberg officially gets in the race may not have an impact on the state’s primary.
The former New York City mayor said he doesn’t plan to run in the early states, including South Carolina’s pivotal “First in the South” presidential primary. He has put his name on the ballot in at least two other states so far.
He still got a key S.C. endorsement anyway. This week, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin confirmed his support.
Who is new in the race and could cause some disruption?
Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts, who jumped into the wide field this month, though still has a narrow chance of winning the state. Patrick joins the race way behind in fundraising and name recognition.
Earlier this week, Patrick made an appearance in Columbia meeting with about a dozen black women small business owners.
Clyburn endorsement watch
South Carolina’s Democratic kingmaker has not publicly said whether he plans to endorse ahead of the primary.
But, for what it’s worth, some S.C. Democrats have made suggestive comments that his slights are obvious.
Go back a few months to Clyburn’s “World Famous Fish Fry,” a signature of the U.S. House majority whip, who this year hosted Democratic presidential contender. Before the big event, former state Rep. Bakari Sellers — who has backed Harris’ candidacy — accused Clyburn of “tacitly endorsing” Biden in an interview with McClatchy DC.
Clyburn’s response? Silence. We will keep guessing.
Other drama
In the last 24 hours, Pete Buttigieg’s campaign has drawn fire.
The campaign for the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was forced to remove a photo pictured with his Douglass Plan proposal after the woman in the photo reached out to a reporter that she is not African American, but from Kenya.
This follows another campaign misstep after it announced more than 400 South Carolinians had endorsed the plan, drawing confusion whether the names listed actually had endorsed his candidacy.
Billionaire Tom Steyer — whose Need to Impeach tour across the country put his name on the 2020 map — has found his way into the race. But his sudden rise in the field has not come without some drama.
An aide to Steyer’s South Carolina team resigned earlier this month after the Charleston’s Post and Courier reported he accessed volunteer data that was collected by opponent U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris’ campaign. Another aide, though outside the Palmetto State, also resigned after allegations the Iowa political director offered to pay Iowa lawmakers to endorse Steyer.
Across the aisle
Democrats aren’t the only ones with a controversy in the race for the White House.
There was the short-lived, 65-day presidential campaign mounted by former Republican congressman and S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford.
And this fall, the South Carolina Republican Party’s executive committee scrapped having its own presidential primary.
That sparked a lawsuit from a former GOP congressman and Mount Pleasant businessman, who argued the party broke its own rules when it voted in September to forgo the election. The case is still pending.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 12:00 AM.
