There will be days of pundit meaning-making around the results of the South Carolina primary, but perhaps the most obvious takeaway from Joe Biden’s huge win is that Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Michael Bloomberg should follow the example of Tom Steyer and drop out of the race, now.
Black voters in the state have predicted the eventual Democratic nominee in every primary race since 1992—save for John Kerry—and with Saturday’s vote, the clarion message as three in five black voters went with Biden was that the other candidates competing for the middle lane don’t have a chance with the Democrats’ most reliable base. It’s time they pulled over.
This isn’t so much a surprise as it is confirmation of what anyone keeping even a side-eye on the Democratic contest has known for quite awhile, and that voters have now confirmed.