Marianne Williamson beats Dean Phillips for a very distant second place
Marianne Williamson, the self-help author now in her second run for president, appeared to finish ahead of Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota in South Carolina's Democratic primary on Saturday, moving past the candidate who has been the most successful candidate to date. President Biden has been. important, albeit distant, competitor.
With 97 percent of the votes counted, Ms. Williamson has 2.1 percent and Mr. Phillips has 1.7 percent. While the race is an overwhelming victory for Biden — with more than 96 percent — it is nonetheless the most support Ms. 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 is a major blow to Mr Phillips. His campaign spent about $4.6 million in the last three months of 2023, and he said he borrowed $4 million of his own money. submit an application to the Federal Election Commission.
Mr. Phillips had tried to maintain very low expectations for his performance in South Carolina. He projected on social media on Friday that Mr. Biden “should get 95 percent of the votes in South Carolina.” His prediction was not far off.
Mr Phillips looked to take his third place finish with ease on Saturday. “Cracking four numbers never felt so good!” he wrote on social media, referring to the approximately 1,400 votes he had at the time. (He finished with about 2,200.) He added, “Congratulations, Mr. President, with an old-fashioned screech. See you in Michigan.”
Both of Mr. Biden's challengers appeared infrequently at campaign events in South Carolina, though Ms. Williamson started visiting the state almost a year ago, and Mr. Phillips made his first trip after competing in the race in November.
The post and courier reported that at an event in Columbia, S.C., last month, aides to Mr. Phillips' campaign feared that turnout would not be high enough to justify the number of seats they had set up. They arranged a smaller number in a circle for the 10 people who eventually showed up. “This feels like a séance,” Mr. Phillips said as he entered the room.
He put considerably more effort into the campaign in New Hampshire, where he hoped for an upset performance that would have given him momentum in the race. He finished with less than 20 percent of the vote and lost overwhelmingly to Mr. Biden, who was not actually on the ballot.
Still, he beat Ms. Williamson by more than 15 points.