geekyOn February 20, 2016 the Republican Party held its primary in South Carolina. As voting day approached, Donald Trump led in all major polls, though the size of his lead varied from as low as 3% in an Augusta Chronicle poll, and as high as 17% in an Emerson poll. Most poll had his lead in the teens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were polling very close to one another in second and third place respectively. Jeb Bush was hoping to regain some credibility in the race in a state that bordered the one that he had been the Governor of, but this wasn't showing up in his polling numbers, which had him in the 9 to 13% range, just ahead of John Kasich and Ben Carson.
What made the state so crucial was that it was the first "winner take all" primary, with the first place finisher winning all of the state's 44 delegates. It was also a test of whether Trump's appeal would transfer to a southern state, or if he would be rejected as someone who didn't share the same values of the state's voters.
The candidates met in three forums or debates leading up to the contest. The first took place on January 9, 2016 in Columbia, South Carolina and was called the Kemp Forum. It was held in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center and sponsored by the Jack Kemp Foundation. Bush, Carson, Christie, Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, and Rubio attended. The forum was moderated by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott.
Two days later, on January 11, 2016, the candidates met again for a debate sponsored by Fox News. On December 8, 2015, it was announced that Fox Business Network would host an additional debate, scheduled to be held two days after the State of the Union address. This debate was held in the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. The anchor and managing editor of Business News, Neil Cavuto, and anchor and global markets editor, Maria Bartiromo, served as moderators for the prime-time debate, which began at 9 p.m. An earlier debate started at 6 p.m. moderated by anchors Trish Regan and Sandra Smith. In order to qualify for the prime-time debate, candidates had to either place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News, or place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News or place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News. On January 11, 2016, seven candidates were revealed to have been invited to the prime-time debate: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump. The participants were introduced in order of their poll rankings at the debate.
Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum participated in the undercard debate. Rand Paul was also invited to the undercard debate, but he refused to attend, saying, "I won't participate in anything that's not first tier because we have a first tier campaign." The candidates were introduced in order of their poll rankings. The first question was to assess the economy. The next questions asked Fiorina about the role of the US in the world, Santorum about the Iran deal, and Huckabee about the solution to Afghanistan's problems.
Finally on February 13, 2016 yet another debate was held in Greenville, South Carolina. It aired on CBS News and was moderated by John Dickerson in the Peace Center, beginning at 9 p.m. and lasted for 90 minutes.
The debate failed to derail the Trump campaign, as he coasted to victory, winning all 50 delegates, capturing 240,882 votes (32.51%). Marco Rubio finished second with 166,565 votes (22.48%), followed by Ted Cruz with 165,417 votes (22.33%), Jeb Bush with 58,056 (7.84%), John Kasich with 56,410 (7.61%) and Ben Carson with 53,551 (7.23%).
That evening, Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign. He made the announcement in a speech to supporters in Columbia, stating "The presidency is bigger than any one candidate. The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken."
Three days later, on February 23, 2016, the Nevada Republican Caucuses were held. The candidates had held a debate there two months earlier on December 15, 2015, at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. It was broadcast on CNN, and was moderated by Wolf Blitzer with Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt serving as questioners. The debate was split into primetime and pre-primetime groups based on averaged polling number. In order to participate in the main debate, candidates had to meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 which were recognized by CNN: an average of at least 3.5% nationally, or an average of at least 4% in either Iowa or New Hampshire. The secondary debate featured candidates that had reached at least 1% in four separate national, Iowa, or New Hampshire polls recognized by CNN. Rand Paul was included in the main debate after not qualifying under the original rules because he received 5% support in Iowa in a Fox News poll. The prime time debate lineup included Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Bush, Fiorina, Christie, Paul, and Kasich. Eighteen million people watched the debate, making it the third-largest audience ever for a presidential primary debate.
The Caucuses were notable because this was the first state in which Donald Trump exceeded the 40% mark in votes. He received 34,531 votes (45.91%) to win 14 delegates. Other candidates winning delegates in the state were Marco Rubio with 17,940 votes (23.85%) to win 7 delegates, Ted Cruz with 16,079 votes (21.38%) to win 6 delegates, Ben Carson with 3,619 votes (4.81%) to win 2 delegates, and John Kasich with 2,709 votes (3.6%) to win 1 delegate.
The Democrats
The order was reversed for the Democrats, as Nevada held is caucuses on February 20th, the same day that Republicans were voting in South Carolina. Nevada Democrats will send 43 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, of which 35 are pledged and 8 are unpledged.
The first Democratic Party presidential debate was held on October 13, 2015 in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Hotel. It was moderated by Anderson Cooper, and it aired on CNN. Participants were Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee. It was the first and only debate appearance of Chafee and Webb, who ended their campaigns later that month on October 23 and October 20, respectively. On February 18, MSNBC and Telemundo hosted a forum in Las Vegas.
On voting day, Clinton won a narrow victory, winning 6,440 votes (52.64%) to capture 20 pledged and 4 unpledged delegates. Bernie Sanders received 5,785 votes (47.29%), netting him 15 pledged and 1 unpledged delegates.
A week later, on February 27, 2016, the Democrats held their primary in South Carolina. The party had held two debates/forums in the state previously. Rachel Maddow was selected to moderate the first of these, the South Candidates Forum attended by Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley. It was held at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on November 6, 2015 and was co-sponsored by the Democratic Parties of 13 southern states. At the forum each candidate was interviewed individually and sequentially. Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb were also invited, but their campaigns never responded to the invitations, and both had withdrawn from the race by the time the forum was held.
The fourth Democratic Party presidential debate was held in Charleston, South Carolina
on January 17, 2016, at the Gaillard Center. It was hosted by Lester Holt and Andrea Mitchell, and it aired on NBC News and was streamed on YouTube. It was also sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. Participants were Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley. It was the final debate appearance of O'Malley, who suspended his campaign on February 1. Much of the debate focused on Sanders and his voting record on gun control and his criticisms of President Barack Obama. Clinton and Sanders had some back-and-forth exchanges about Wall Street, foreign policy, and gun control.
On voting day, Clinton once again emerged victorious, winning 272,379 votes (73.44%) and 44 delegates (39 pledged and 5 unpledged). Bernie Sanders received 96,498 votes (26.02%) to win 14 delegates, all pledged.
The candidates for both parties were aware the the biggest contest thus far was just days away: Super Tuesday (March 1st) on which primaries and caucuses would be held in 11 states for both parties.