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The first official Democratic primary is on Saturday in South Carolina

VPM | By Michel Martin and Maayan Schechter
Published February 2, 2024 at 10:15 AM EST

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We’ve been closely following the Republican presidential primary contest, so it’s easy to forget that there is also a nominating process happening on the Democratic side, too.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Yeah. The first where President Biden will actually be on the ballot happens tomorrow in South Carolina.

MARTIN: Joining us now to tell us more about this is Maayan Schechter with South Carolina Public Radio. Maayan, good morning.

MAAYAN SCHECHTER, BYLINE: Good morning.

MARTIN: So President Biden is the incumbent, obviously, pretty much unopposed. So going into tomorrow, expected to win. So what will you be looking at once the results are in? And while you’re at it, Maayan, why don’t you just remind us about why South Carolina is going first this time around? This is new.

SCHECHTER: Sure. So a year ago, the Democratic National Committee, with President Biden’s backing, of course, voted to put South Carolina first. It’s a nod to the state’s diversity, specifically those Black voters here who make up about two-thirds of the Democratic Party base – much higher, of course, than other early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. What I’m really looking at on Saturday is turnout, and within that turnout, who shows up and who doesn’t show up as they did perhaps – maybe four years ago.

And I’m watching that turnout for two reasons. One, it could counter this narrative. We’ve heard a lot from either polls or pundits that people in the president’s own party just aren’t energized this election cycle to back Biden. The other part is that leaders really want to show off this race, especially to doubters in other states, that South Carolina truly deserves to stay first and especially go first in 2028, where, of course, the stakes may be even higher. So it’s important for the party. It’s important for the DNC to tell everyone, hey, look, South Carolina is diverse; South Carolina does back Biden; and we are the best state to look at where Democratic voters, particularly Black voters, are today.

MARTIN: So say more about that if you would because, as you said, like, back in 2020, Black Democrats in particular in South Carolina were credited with saving Biden’s campaign when, you know, people voted for him there, really pushed him ahead of other strong primary challengers, at least people who looked like they were strong. Could you just say a little bit more about the diversity of the state?

SCHECHTER: Sure. You know, South Carolina is one of the top fastest-growing states in the country. It’s still very white, higher than 60%. But African Americans here make up about 26% of the state’s population, which is almost double what it is nationally at nearly 14%. And Black voters here do make up a majority of the state’s Democratic Party, as I said earlier, accounting for somewhere around 60% of the base. And that’s three times higher, actually, than the percentage of Black Democrats who voted in 2020, according to Pew Research.

MARTIN: So as you’ve been speaking to voters, what’s motivating them to vote?

SCHECHTER: Everyone has their own personal motivator. What I hear a lot from voters are kitchen table issues like health care. You know, for instance, I’ve talked to people who are maybe diabetic or they know someone who’s diabetic. And so that $35 insulin cap has been super helpful. That’s a concern for so many Black South Carolinians here. And that’s actually a personal story for Congressman Jim Clyburn, whose late wife was diabetic.

There’s also Democratic voters who are super motivated after the Supreme Court, which obviously has a conservative tilt because of Trump’s nominees – they’re very unhappy with the court unwinding abortion rights and what that’s meant for states. South Carolina has a six-week ban. But I will say the overwhelming reason, and, frankly, the biggest concern I hear from a lot of voters, is just Trump. They see Trump as undoing a lot of the good that they say Biden has been able to achieve.

MARTIN: And as briefly as you can, what are some of the hesitations people in Biden’s party have about him there?

SCHECHTER: Age, not listening to their generation, exhausted by another Trump-Biden rematch, and also Israel’s war in Gaza are the top issues I hear.

MARTIN: That is Maayan Schechter with South Carolina Public Radio. Maayan, thank you.

SCHECHTER: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Michel Martin

Michel Martin is the weekend host of All Things Considered and host of the Consider This Saturday podcast, where she draws on her deep reporting and interviewing experience to dig in to the week's news. Outside the studio, she has also hosted "Michel Martin: Going There," an ambitious live event series in collaboration with Member Stations.

Martin came to NPR in 2006 and launched Tell Me More, a one-hour daily NPR news and talk show that aired on NPR stations nationwide from 2007-2014 and dipped into thousands of important conversations taking place in the corridors of power, but also in houses of worship, and barber shops and beauty shops, at PTA meetings, town halls, and at the kitchen table.

She has spent more than 25 years as a journalist — first in print with major newspapers and then in television. Tell Me More marked her debut as a full-time public radio show host. Martin says, "What makes public radio special is that it's got both intimacy and reach all at once. For the cost of a phone call, I can take you around the world. But I'm right there with you in your car, in your living room or kitchen or office, in your iPod. Radio itself is an incredible tool and when you combine that with the global resources of NPR plus the commitment to quality, responsibility and civility, it's an unbeatable combination."

Martin has also served as contributor and substitute host for NPR newsmagazines and talk shows, including Talk of the Nation and News & Notes.

Martin joined NPR from ABC News, where she worked since 1992. She served as correspondent for Nightline from 1996 to 2006, reporting on such subjects as the congressional budget battles, the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, racial profiling and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At ABC, she also contributed to numerous programs and specials, including the network's award-winning coverage of Sept. 11, a documentary on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy, a critically acclaimed AIDS special and reports for the ongoing series "America in Black and White." Martin reported for the ABC newsmagazine Day One, winning an Emmy for her coverage of the international campaign to ban the use of landmines, and was a regular panelist on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. She also hosted the 13-episode series Life 360, an innovative program partnership between Oregon Public Broadcasting and Nightline incorporating documentary film, performance and personal narrative; it aired on public television stations across the country.

Before joining ABC, Martin covered state and local politics for the Washington Post and national politics and policy at the Wall Street Journal, where she was White House correspondent. She has also been a regular panelist on the PBS series Washington Week and a contributor to NOW with Bill Moyers.

Martin has been honored by numerous organizations, including the Candace Award for Communications from The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Joan Barone Award for Excellence in Washington-based National Affairs/Public Policy Broadcasting from the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association and a 2002 Silver Gavel Award, given by the American Bar Association. Along with her Emmy award, she received three additional Emmy nominations, including one with WNYC's Robert Krulwich, at the time an ABC contributor as well, for an ABC News program examining children's racial attitudes. In 2019, Martin was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism. She is the 2021 recipient of PMJA's 2021 Leo C. Lee Award.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Martin graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College at Harvard University in 1980 and earned a Master of Arts from the Wesley Theological Seminary in 2016.

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