Hillary Clinton is eyeing a decisive win in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential nomination race, hoping to gain momentum against Bernie Sanders before the high-stakes “Super Tuesday” contest.
One week after Donald Trump barrelled to victory in the state’s Republican vote, yesterday Democrats took centre stage in South Carolina, where 55% of voters in the 2008 party primary were black.
Clinton is expected to win the southern state, and leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having won two of the first three nomination contests -- in Iowa, narrowly, and Nevada.
Polling stations opened their doors at 7am (1200 GMT)yesterday and were to close 12 hours later, at which point a winner could be announced if one candidate has a clear lead.
“It would be a super send-off to do well here,” Clinton told several hundred mostly African American voters, who gathered Friday for an oyster roast and fish fry at the county fairgrounds in Orangeburg.
By contrast, Sanders received a cool welcome from the same crowd when he arrived unexpectedly at the event on the heels of the former secretary of state.
“In 1963, I was there with Doctor (Martin Luther) King for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” he said, earning some applause.
Later in Columbia, Sanders delivered his final speech to an oversized, half-empty auditorium — while in Iowa, he had easily filled an arena with 5,000 supporters.
While Sanders has the support of some high-profile African Americans such as film director Spike Lee and the rapper Killer Mike, Clinton is backed by many local elected officials and black community figures.
The 68-year-old also has the support of many of the same voters who supported her husband, Bill, whose popularity as a presidential candidate rivalled even that of Barack Obama.
Both presidents are men whom Clinton knows well, and she frequently jokes about being a part of their political lineage.
“I’m not running to do either one of their third terms, but I do think they really did a good job for America, and it would be foolish not to learn from them,” Clinton said.
In South Carolina, Clinton’s campaign has worked hard to hammer home the message that she is the only candidate who can break down barriers still preventing minorities from getting ahead.
Some Clinton supporters say Senator Sanders, a transplanted New Yorker and self-declared democratic socialist who now represents Vermont, is little known in the south.
Although Sanders, 74, was in South Carolina Friday, his prospects in the state are poor and he has invested few resources here.
Instead, he is focusing on states like Ohio and Minnesota that vote in March, when a whopping 45% of the delegates who will attend the nominating convention are up for grabs.
He was scheduled to be in Texas and Minnesota yesterday, while Clinton will be back in Columbia by night.
Only 3% percent of delegates for July’s nominating convention in Philadelphia will be awarded by the end of the day.
But the 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests just days later on Super Tuesday will send a whopping 18% of the delegates to Philadelphia.
Clinton is ahead in most of the 11 states, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his adopted home state of Vermont.
Since he entered the campaign last year, Sanders has made up some lost ground with minorities in terms of face and name recognition.
But Clinton’s supporters, minority or otherwise, invariably say she is “qualified” and “experienced”.
Jay Smith, a retired African American, came to the polls in Columbia yesterday with her son Roy and young grandson. Both voted for Clinton.
“She’s the strongest of the candidates. She’s been in it her whole life,” Smith said.
Bernie? “No, he’s too old.”
Retired African American teacher Elvira Kennedy, 70, also voted for Clinton.
“She’s the best candidate,” she said. “We never had a woman president, it’s about time we give a woman a chance to mess everything. Men have been doing it for 300 years.”
Tessa Blackwell, 29, a white restaurant manager, said she voted for Sanders.
“I really love that he’s doing such a grassroots campaign, and that he’s not bought by any corporation,” she said. “He’s more for the people by the people.”
A win would mark Clinton’s third since February 1, and could silence critics who say she has led a sluggish campaign.
Since entering the race last April, Clinton’s campaign has had its ups and downs.
One of its lowest points was the FBI investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
The issue made headlines again on Friday, when the State Department released 1,500 pages of her emails to meet a deadline to disclose all releasable portions of her electronic correspondence in its possession by tomorrow night.
But the candidate said she was not worried.
“I am, you know, personally not concerned about it, I think that there will be a res+olution on the security inquiry,” she told MSNBC.
Polls carried out last week gave Clinton a clear advantage in South Carolina: about 56% compared to 28% for Bernie Sanders.