The latest on the South Carolina GOP primary and 2024 campaign

7:00 p.m. ET, February 24, 2024

Polls are closing across South Carolina. Here’s what to know about the GOP primary

From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf and Ethan Cohen

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It’s 7 p.m. ET and polls are closing across South Carolina. Here are key things to know about state’s primary:

The candidates: The major candidates include former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner to get the Republican nomination for the third straight presidential election. His top rival is former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as US ambassador to the United Nations for part of Trump’s term as president.

Who can vote? South Carolina’s primaries are open, which means any registered voter can take part in either the Republican primary or the Democratic primary, but not both. The Democratic primary took place earlier in February. President Joe Biden won easily.

Who has been ahead in the GOP primary? Even though Haley was the state’s governor, Trump has been the clear leader in pre-primary polling. He gets the support of more than 60% of GOP primary voters in several recent polls – far outpacing Haley, who has hovered around 30%. Trump has held rallies in the state, but much of his campaigning has been done from courtrooms in New York, Washington, DC, and Florida, where he faces a series of criminal prosecutions. He was also ordered to pay $355 million in a civil fraud case last week.

If Trump wins South Carolina, is the primary over? Not technically. It will ultimately take 1,215 delegates for Trump, or anyone, to secure the Republican nomination. Just 50 delegates are at stake in South Carolina. Heading into the South Carolina primary, Trump has the lead with 63 delegates to Haley’s 17. So there is still a long way to go. The largest pot of delegates is up for grabs on Super Tuesday, March 5.

What are the state’s demographics? As of the 2020 Census, the state was about 62% White, about one-quarter Black and nearly 7% Hispanic. But the Republican primary voters are overwhelmingly White. When Trump won the South Carolina primary with more than 32% of the vote in 2016, just about 1% of the GOP primary voters were Black.

Here’s what else to know about the South Carolina GOP Primary

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