Joe Biden captures South Carolina’s Democratic primary

Former Vice President Joe Biden won a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, rescuing his flagging campaign from a trio of early state disappointments and bolstering his momentum heading into the Super Tuesday contests next week.

Bernie Sanders has proven to be a formidable opponent for Biden in the early states, coming in a close second in the Iowa caucus, where Biden came in fourth, and beating the former vice president handily in New Hampshire and Nevada, where Biden eked out a distant second place.

Biden declared at a Feb. 25 debate that he would win in South Carolina, based largely on his strength among African American voters who make up a majority of voters in the Palmetto State. His win in South Carolina appears to bolster his campaign’s central argument, that he has more appeal in states with diverse and working-class populations than does Sanders.

Biden’s win could work to blunt front-runner Sanders’ momentum heading into Super Tuesday, when 14 states and American Samoa weigh in on the race.

Only Biden and California billionaire Tom Steyer planned to mark primary night in the state, as the rest of the field stumped across the spectrum of Super Tuesday states that vote next week.

About 40% of voters in South Carolina picked health care as the top issue, while 22% said the economy and jobs are most important. That’s according to an AP VoteCast survey of the electorate. Fourteen percent of voters identified climate change.

Close to 9 in 10 Democratic voters said it’s important for their nominee to be a strong leader.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.