COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Donald Trump defeated GOP rival Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, securing yet another win for the former president.

The race was called almost immediately after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

“This was a little sooner than we anticipated. And even a bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump said to applause on stage at the state fairgrounds in Columbia moments after the victory.

“I have never seen the Republican Party as United as it is right now,” he said.

Haley — who was a two-term governor in the Palmetto State — was banking on doing better in her home state than she did in Iowa and New Hampshire.

She has vowed to continue on through Super Tuesday on March 5, and has events scheduled in multiple states leading up to the major contest where 874 delegates will be up for grabs.

“People want to see us continue this fight,” Haley told reporters Saturday after voting at her local polling site on tony Kiawah Island.

“And I think it’s a good thing when democracy reigns.”

Trump, for his part, completely ignored Haley Saturday as he spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., training his fire instead on President Biden.

Trump’s South Carolina victory puts him even closer to cinching the GOP nomination.

The GOP front-runner has won every primary in the 2024 election cycle so far, outpacing his rivals by double-digit margins in Iowa, New Hampshire, the US Virgin Islands and Nevada.

The Haley campaign long viewed South Carolina as a pivotal point in the race, where the former governor would have the best chances of coming within striking distance of Trump.

Haley’s team stressed she would build on “momentum” from Iowa and New Hampshire, which would materialize in a surge in her home state.

In South Carolina, she ran on a platform highlighting her gubernatorial record and continued to argue that the “chaos” that follows Trump makes him incapable of defeating Biden in November, pointing to polls showing her having larger margins against the Democratic incumbent.

Her campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, told The Post on Friday that Haley was “marching on” past South Carolina, and that Haley’s camp wouldn’t disclose any sort of benchmark they were trying to hit.

“We know that this is an uphill battle. We know that the road is difficult. We know that the math is challenging, but this has never just been about who can win a Republican primary this battle is about who can win in November, defeat the Democrats and finally get our country back on track,” Ankney told reporters in a Friday morning call.

Meanwhile, Trump unleashed a crew of surrogates, including 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Lara Trump, to stump for him in South Carolina in the week leading up to the primary.

Trump delivered remarks Friday night in Rock Hill, South Carolina to around 6,000 supporters, predicting Haley would have a “very bad day” on Saturday because she’s “not a nice person.”

Backers of the former president, including Trump himself and former 2024 candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) have been vocal about wanting Haley out of the race, arguing she’s hurting the country.

Haley supporters in South Carolina told The Post she should continue her bid, despite very low chances of winning, in case Trump gets “locked up.”

Per: NYP