The victory, powered by support from African-American voters was the 77-year-old Biden's first in the race and may give him momentum going into “Super Tuesday” next week, when 14 states go to the polls.
Just days ago the press and the pundits had declared this candidacy dead, you've launched our campaign on the path to defeating Donald Trump. we have the option of winning big or losing big
Joe Biden, Former vice president
With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Biden had 48.4 percent to 20 percent for the 78-year-old Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described 'Democratic socialist'.
Former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has been challenging Biden for the centrist vote, had eight percent while Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren had seven percent.
A victory in South Carolina, where African-Americans make up around 60 percent of the Democratic primary electorate, was seen as crucial to Biden's hopes of reviving his flagging campaign.
South Carolina was seen as a key test of Sanders' support among African-Americans crucial to a Democratic victory in November, but he only received the backing of around 15 percent of black voters while Biden received 60 percent according to exit polls.
Biden finished fourth in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire and second in Nevada, and desperately needed a win in South Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday, which decides a third of the delegates who formally choose the Democratic nominee at the July party convention.
The Bloomberg campaign, which has invested heavily in the Super Tuesday races, noted that the former New York mayor was not on the ballot in South Carolina.
Biden, who served for eight years as vice president to Barack Obama, was the favorite in South Carolina, the first state with a substantial African-American electorate to hold a primary contest. Trump also praised Biden's victory and called on Bloomberg to quit the race
