by Marianne Williamson, the self-help author now on her second run for president, appeared to finish ahead of Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, slowly edging out the candidate who until now has been the most voted for by President Biden. important, although distant, rival.
With 97 per cent of the votes counted, Ms Williamson has 2.1 per cent and Mr Phillips has 1.7 per cent. While the race is a landslide victory for Biden, at more than 96 percent, it is nonetheless the largest support Williamson has received in an official Democratic primary. She ended her 2020 campaign weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
Ms Williamson’s very distant second place finish is a blow to Mr Phillips. His campaign spent about $4.6 million in the final three months of 2023 and loaned $4 million of his own money, according to a presentation before the Federal Electoral Commission.
Phillips had tried to set very low expectations for his performance at South Carolina. He screened on social media on Friday that Biden “should get 95 percent of the vote in South Carolina.” His prognosis was not far off.
Phillips seemed to take his third-place finish in stride on Saturday. “Breaking four digits never felt so good!” she wrote on social media, referring to the approximately 1,400 votes she had at the time. (He ended up with about 2,200.) And he added: “Congratulations, Mr. President, on his good old-fashioned shouting. See you in Michigan.”
Both Biden rivals appeared infrequently at campaign events in South Carolina, although Williamson began visiting the state almost a year ago, and Mr. Phillips made his first trip after joining the race in November.
The mail and the messenger reported that at an event last month in Columbia, South Carolina, Mr. Phillips’ campaign staff members feared that attendance was not high enough to justify the number of chairs they had set up. They arranged a smaller number in a circle for the 10 people who finally showed up. “This feels like a seance,” Phillips said when he entered the room.
He put much more effort into campaigning in New Hampshire, where he hoped for a surprising performance that would have given him momentum in the race. He ended up with less than 20 percent of the vote, losing overwhelmingly to Biden, who, in fact, was not on the ballot.
Still, he beat Williamson by more than 15 points.
