Former Vice President Joe Biden won a decisive victory Saturday in the South Carolina Democratic primary, marking his first-ever win in a presidential primary or caucus. He took over 48% of the vote — more than double Senator Bernie Sanders, who received just under 20%, placing second. Billionaire Tom Steyer placed third with 11%; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg came in fourth with 8%; and Senator Elizabeth Warren fifth with 7%. As Saturday’s results came in, Steyer announced he was dropping out of the race, with Buttigieg following suit Sunday evening.
While Biden received the majority of black votes in South Carolina, over 100 prominent black writers and academics endorsed Bernie Sanders, writing in an open letter, “A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world. The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt … and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion.”
Meanwhile, a number of mostly black churchgoers in Selma, Alabama, protested billionaire Mike Bloomberg Sunday by standing up and turning their backs to him as he addressed the congregation. Bloomberg was commemorating the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when police attacked civil rights activists as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. While Bloomberg was mayor of New York City, police officers stopped 5 million people as part of the city’s stop-and-frisk program, which terrorized and criminalized black and brown communities.
The remaining presidential candidates — including Bloomberg, who will appear on the ballot for the first time since the primaries started — will compete tomorrow on Super Tuesday, where 14 states will vote and over a third of all Democratic delegates are up for grabs.
