WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the 2016 campaign for president (all times local):
10:45 a.m.
John Kasich says he’s not staying in South Carolina on Saturday night to await results of the state’s Republican presidential primary.
Kasich is heading that day to campaign in Vermont and Massachusetts instead. Both states hold their primaries on March 1.
Kasich was campaigning in Charleston on Thursday morning. The Ohio governor says he’s going to “work like crazy” in South Carolina over the next two days. He says, “We’re spending a little bit more money here and hopefully we’ll do well.”
Kasich finished second to Donald Trump in last week’s New Hampshire primary.
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10:40 a.m.
More than 300 pastors and other religious leaders in South Carolina have endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president.
Cruz announced the endorsements on Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina, two days before the state’s primary.
Cruz’s win in the Iowa caucuses was fueled by a similar coalition of evangelical support, and he is counting on their backing to do well in South Carolina.
Cruz says in a statement announcing the endorsements he believes they send a “strong signal” that conservatives are uniting behind his campaign. Cruz says he has support from religious leaders in every South Carolina county.
On Wednesday, Cruz rival Marco Rubio won the endorsement of the state’s governor, Nikki Haley. The Florida senator is campaigning across the state with Haley on Thursday.
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10:38 a.m.
A spokesman says Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders doesn’t “believe that gender should be the reason we vote for or against anyone.”
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs on Thursday distanced the Vermont senator from comments made by rapper Killer Mike at a recent Sanders rally in Atlanta.
Killer Mike told supporters on Tuesday that “a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be president of the United States,” a reference to Sanders’ Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Briggs says the artist was quoting activist Jane Elliott and was saying “we need to get beyond gotcha politics and get to the issues at the heart of the election.”
Killer Mike is the latest Sanders supporter to make impolitic comments about Clinton heading into the primary elections in Nevada and South Carolina.