One week after South Carolina voters handed Donald Trump a big win in the Republican primary, it's the Democrats' turn. Here's everything you need to know about today's contest in the Palmetto State.
Could South Carolina still feel the Bern?
Though the margin between the candidates has grown a bit closer in South Carolina polling over the past couple of months, Hillary Clinton is still averaging about a 25-point lead over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina, per RealClearPolitics.
The major force behind Clinton's advantage? Minority voters. The Greenville News' Amanda Coyne earlier this week outlined what each candidate faces in appealing to black voters.
"Therein lies Sanders’ biggest problem ─ and opponent Hillary Clinton’s biggest advantage ─ in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary. Sanders has the support of 28% of black voters in South Carolina, according to a CNN/ORC International poll. Clinton has 65%. In 2008, 55% of Democratic primary voters were black."
Clinton also picked up a key endorsement last week from the most influential Democrat in the state: Rep. James Clyburn.
When will we know who wins?
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. If the margin between the candidates is as wide as polling indicates, we could have a winner shortly after polls close.
How did Clinton fare in South Carolina eight years ago?
The short answer: It didn't go well. Not only did Clinton lose to then-Illinois senator Barack Obama by a more than 2-to-1 margin, her husband, former president Bill Clinton, stirred controversy following the loss with remarks that seemed to diminish Obama's victory there that some believed were racially tinged.
So what exactly is at stake?
South Carolina was allotted 59 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, though six of these are superdelegates, who are elected officials and select party leaders and DNC national committee members free to support any candidate they choose.
The remainder are allocated based on the results of the primary. Since you've made it this far, we'll dig a little deeper into how exactly that happens. Thirty-five delegates are awarded based on finishes in each of the Palmetto State's seven congressional districts, another 11 are considered at-large delegates won based on statewide finish, while the final seven are other party leaders and officials (to be named later) who are still bound by the results of the primary. All of these so-called pledged delegates are awarded on a proportional basis, with a 15% threshold.
Still with us?
To put it in perspective, the 53 delegates at stake will be more than any of the previous three contests, but still just a small fraction of the 2,383 needed to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
What happens after Saturday?
Next up is Super Tuesday on March 1, in which 11 states will hold Democratic contests: there are primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia, and caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota. Clinton is expected to prevail in the Southern states, while Sanders is looking for wins in New England and strong finishes in Minnesota, Colorado and Oklahoma.
