Joe Biden Wins South Carolina Democratic Primary

As soon as the power of Black voters's ballots were put to the test in the first primary in a majority Black electorate, former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary on Saturday (Feb. 29) with 50.2 percent of the vote, followed by Senator Bernie Sanders with 19 percent of the vote and businessman Tom Steyer with 11.7 percent of the vote. At publish time, 57 percent of South Carolina precincts were reporting.


"Thank you, South Carolina!", Biden tweeted. "To all those who have been knocked down, counted out, and left beyond — this is your campaign. With each other, we are going to win this nomination and beat Donald Trump."


This is an enormous moment for Biden because South Carolina has a nearly brilliant track record of picking the resultant Democratic Party nominee. (The only exception was the 2004 presidential race in which then-Sen. John Edwards took residence a win nevertheless ultimately lost the nomination to then-Sen. John Kerry.) The former Vice President also needed the win, immediately after Sanders swept Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.


Turnout in the primary was primarily reliant on Black voters, who comprised 57 percent of turnout; 64 percent of these voters indicated they supported Biden, per Washington Post's exit polls. He also earned a plurality of white voters's support. However while Sanders once again earned the most support of voters aged 17-29, they only comprised 11 percent of the turnout on Saturday.


This is a developing story. MTV News will update it as we know more.