The first contest of 2024 with Joe Biden’s name on the ballot gave Democrats some tentative signs of strength among the Black voters crucial to his reelection campaign.

South Carolina gave Biden more than 96% of the vote against token competition Saturday, in the first official primary under new party rules giving the Biden-friendly state a bigger voice in Democratic presidential nominations. About half of the state’s Democratic voters are Black, a demographic group that Biden called “the backbone of the Democratic Party.”