Right now. Decision 2016, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening. Its great to be with you on saturday voting day in two key president ial contests. Lets get to the democratic caucuses where nbc news projected Hillary Clinton will defeat Bernie Sanders. Clinton able to hold back sanders charge that followed his win in New Hampshire and complicating his path to the nomination tonight. The polls will close in less than half an hour in South Carolinas republican primary where in recent days ted cruz has been closing ground with donald we will go there in a moment. Our team is in place to cover it all. We want to get to the big story though out of nevada. Nbcs Chris Kristin welker is in nevada. Reporter secretary clinton just finishing up her victory speech. Her supporters chanting hillary, evening. There was a lot of concern amongst her supporters she would lose this state. But this is a decisive victory. It will give her big momentum momentum. Hillary clinton again breathing a sigh of relief tonight. Outperforming senator sanders in the critical state of nevada. Thank you. Thank you so much. Reporter making a left minute push for Service Industry union workers, more than 50 latino. Senator sanders stopping by mgm grand. Secretary clinton and h at harrahs. Why bernie sand sneakers. I love the things he is saying. Reporter why are you supporting hillary . She has experience. Reporter nevada is a key part of clintons fire wall to show shes not electable than sander sanders. After getting a sixmonth jump on sanders and pouring millions into ads. Fighting for children, families and our country. Reporter clintons once double digit lead e evaporated. Clinton has been dogged by questions about her emails and paid wall street speeches. The rhetoric growing heated. On display at the msnbc town hall. I just dont know where all this comes from. Maybe its that sanders wasnt really a democrat until he decided to run for president. Reporter sanders accusing clinton of playing politics. Going to win support from the Africanamerican Community with a popular. Reporter nevada pivotal, setting the trajectory for the race. It looks like america, about a population is hispanic, large asian population. Its more like the rest of american than reporter second clinton just wrapping supporters. Here is a little of what she had to say. Doubted us. But we never doubted each other. And this one is for you. Reporter now clinton is moving on. Tonight she has texas for a Campaign Event and then she will spend two days california trying to match the millions that senator sanders has raised online. Kristin welker, tonight. The outcome in nevada will set the stage for clinton and sanders. Andrea mitchell joins us. Bernie sanders put out an email trying to raise money to off of what he says is a close finish. The bottom line is he needed this. She needed it more. This was her firewall. After a tie in iowa and a defeat in new win big. To prove that she could win here in the more diverse state, she stopped his momentum for now. She goes on to South Carolina where she has the advantage. The congressman is very important endorsement that came yesterday. She will go to texas tonight. Thats super tuesday. She is going to try to prove that Bernie Sanders cannot expand the map. He cant win in important diverse states. Andrew andrea mitchell, thank you. We are awaiting the polls to close in sk where the republican primary is being held. Donald trump hoping to hold back a late charge by ted cruz. Hallie jackson is following the race there. Reporter lester, downplaying the potential for an upselt victory. Strong. A fight for second. Donald trump is by how much . The state party tells us tonight, some pre precincts broke records by midafternoon. In 12 hours of voting, countless last minute decisions. I decided at about 9 00 this morning. And i have been watching coverage nonstop. Yesterday. Reporter at stake in South Carolina, who moves on and who drops out. The field smaller than it used to be but still bigger than it usually is. Once you get this race down to two, three, four people, you will have a clearer more traditional campaign. Reporter marco rubio just one of the candidates with tonight. Establishment voters and can beat his onetime mentor, jeb bush. Who insists he is not near death. Its a long haul process. Donald trump who has been dominating. Money. We want your vote. Reporter today on offense online, attacking his rivals. Like ted cruz who has to show he can contend thats key to his strategy moving forward. Tonight, returning to the state after attending Justice Scalias funeral in washington. We have an election in a few months. The American People should be able to choose the direction of this. Carolina has picked almost every republican nominee since 1980. A good track record. Today, record turnout expected as a nasty allegations of dirty tricks in every robo calls. Lets take our country back now. Reporter rumors. No surprise. It never looks good. You need to be classy and polite. Thats not politics. Reporter not in this primary. The first in the south a fight to the finish. Most conventional wisdom believes that donald trump will be the winner tonight. The real contest is ted cruzs organization can beat south. Reporter an aid to acknowledges they will probably finish in the bottom three tonight. Insists they will fight on to nevada next week and then beyond. John kasich isnt in South Carolina. He is in new england looking ahead to super tuesday battles in the northeast and midwest. Hallie jackson, thank you. Lets bring in the moderate irof or of meet the press chuck todd. What do you see, chuck . Lets start with nevada. Show you how clinton pulled this off. When you look at it. Let me show you among age. Once again, we see the divide. Younger voters going for sanders. Older voters going for clinton. But she did better, believe it or not, among Younger Voters than previous ones. Then there was the white to nonwhite split. A more diverse state. Just over 40 of of the vote is nonwhite. Among the nonwhite vote, that is where clinton had an advantage. Advantage among africanamericans. Theres a question in the poll about hispanics. Thats why we are careful there. Wasnt to highlight one big number, because this is the establishment striking back on behalf of clinton. Its labor unions. Clinton beat sanders by ten points among union households. That is everything you need to know about the casino workers that we showed there with Chris Kristin welker. Lets shift to South Carolina. Polls will close there very soon. I just want to show you the makeup of the state. As you can see, its somewhat conservative that outnumber the why is that important . You see that that electorate is a little more broadbased. Its more conservative hampshire. Slightly less conservative than in iowa. Its not a trump blowout. Its not going to look like New Hampshire. Nor is it going to be a cruz victory, because it doesnt look like iowa. I can tell you ideologically, this looks like it will be a closer race just looking at that makeup of what South Carolina looks like tonight. Multiple acts to this place. The republicans will hold their caucuses in nevada this tuesday. The democrats will hold their primary in South Carolina one week from today. As the political battle over his successor heats up, a funeral was held today for Justice Antonin Scalia who died one week ago in texas. Several thousand people attended the service in washington. We get more from our justice correspondent pete williams. Reporter Justice Scalia wanted a simple funeral in a parish church. As it turned out, more than 3,000 came to the massive basilica of the National Shrine of theic mac lat conception. It was celebrated by his son paul, a Catholic Priest part of the large scalia family. He is the father that god gave us for the great adventure of family life. Sure, he forgot our names at times or mixed them up. Us. Scalia himself, the service was deeply spiritual but marked with humor such as the story of a time Justice Scalia got a surprise going for a con confession. He found himself in my confessional line. And he quickly departed it. As he put it later, like heck if im confessing to you. Reporter his fellow conservative and fellow Catholic JusticeClarence Thomas read from scripture. God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us. Reporter among the mourners, Vice President joe biden representing the white house and ted cruz a former Supreme Court law clerk who criticized president obama for not attending. The president and first lady paid their respects friday as Justice Scalia lay in repose. The other seven of the courts remaining today as were two retired justices, John Paul Stevens and suitor. As for a successor, the white house made a point of showing president bema walk obama walking with material. This was a day remembering the man devoted to his faith and family and the law. Pete williams, nbc news, washington. In the south pacific, fiji was battered by a cyclone causing extensive damage. Kelly kobiella has the story. Reporter the cyclone crashed in with deafening winds. Torrential rain and gusts of 186 miles and hour, lifting roofs like pieces of paper. Leaving tourists and locals terrified for i didnt know if i would survive. This cyclone was terrible. Ter ter it was terrifying everyone. How you can sleep . Reporter the Spanish Rugby Team in fiji for training. The monster storm is one of the strongest ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. A category 5 cyclone. Its so massive that it is the first ever category 5 to hit fiji fiji. Reporter there are reports of homes flattened. People are clearing away the worst of the wrath. The government has declared a monthlong state of emergency to assess the damage. Kelly kobiella, nbc news. Theres more ahead as we continue on this saturday night. Thousands of College Students on edge as a budget battle threatens funding for their schools. A big night for the u. S. Womens soccer team. Fighting for a spot in the summer name your price tool. This highly soughtafter device from progressive can be yours for. Twenty grand . No we are giving it away for just 3 easy payments of 4. 99 plus tax the lines are blowing up weve got deborah from poughkeepsie. Flo yeah, no, its flo. You guys realize anyone can use the name your price tool for free on progressive. Com, right . [ laughing nervously ] [ pickles whines ] i know, its like theyre always on television. What . Hey, jesse. Who are you . Im vern, the orange money retirement rabbit from voya. 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With venture, youll earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. Just book the flight you want, on any airline, then use your miles to cover the cost. Now youre getting somewhere. Whats in your wallet . In the middle of the semester, thousands of College Students in illinois have an added worry tonight. Whether they will make it through the school year and beyond. Thats because the Public University system in the state is caught up in a budget crisis that has gone on for eight months. Blake mccoy has our report from chicago. Reporter Charles Preston is a senior in africanamerican studies. I feel like my government failed me. Reporter he and his classmates are in limbo, caught in the middle of a state budget battle unsure if they will graduate. Chicago state gets 30 of its funding from the state. This year, hasnt received a dime. Neither have the states 11 other public universities. This is a tremendous distraction. Its a level of irresponsibility that have i not i have not seen. Its harmful. To me and my future and this to this community. Im not the only one in this fight. Im fighting for the future of others as well. Reporter he led heated demonstrations from chicago to the state house in springfield. We want to graduate. Reporter where the government is deadlocked. A new republican governor who wants to cut spending and weaken unions. On the other, a democratically controlled legislature wanting to raise taxes. The result, illinois budget for eight months. Would you call this a crisis for illinois . Its beyond a crisis. Yes. The state has been damaged. I hope not irreparably. But damage thats going to last for many years by this political dysfunction. Everyone is nervous. Its not just the students. Reporter back at chicago state, this woman is set to graduate this december. I have worked so hard. Reporter you are so close to graduating. Im so close to graduating. I just cant afford to start over. Reporter a cloud of uncertainty over a state of dysfunction. Blake mccoy, nbc news, chicago. Up next here tonight, celebrating the life of an olympic trail blazer. We will look at the new film about jesse owens. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, listen up im here to get the lady of the house back on her feet. And give her the strength and energy to stay healthy. Whos with me . the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. With 9 grams of protein. And 26 vitamins and minerals the scene last night in houston. The u. S. Womens soccer team playing against trinidad and toe bay coin a qualifying tournament for the olympics. It wasnt much of a contest. They secured a place in the games with a 50 victory. The u. S. Will be going for its fourth straight olympic gold medal. It was a another summer olympics eight decade ago when a a sensation that reverberates to this day. Not only did jesse owens win four gold medals, but in doing sew made a powerful statement about race. This weekend, a new film opens about the life and types of jess imes of jesse owens. The fastest human of his day. Reporter this summer marks 80 years since jesse owens dominated the olympics. The focus of a new beyo be biopick called race. You want to win a gold medal . Sure. Reporter his four gold medals stunned hitler. The competition was grand. I was very glad to come out on top. Reporter while his record breaking performance made headlines and him a household name in america, to many, owens was the wrong color. Your friends will have to use the service entrance. Reporter the actor who plays him says the than black and white. What do you want people to get out of this . Look at him and say, if co he could do what he did at a time and place where did he it, theres no excuse me are for me to not be great. Reporter it highlights the athletic prowess of owens, it shows his grace against Racial Injustice and his commitment as a family man. Something his daughters say was important to them. It had to make it about the true story about my father. And all of the things that he went through after the olympics and how he survived them. The expectation was that we would finish school, go to college. Not go to college, go to ohio state. Reporter before clay rose to prominence at muhammad ali or jackie robinson, there was aint no black and white. Theres fast and slow. Reporter blazing a followed in his tracks. Owens reporter in the race to greatness. Ron mott, nbc news, new york. Up next, meet spem people who did hadnt been done in of my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Ordinary objects often seemed. Intimidating. Doing something simple. Meant enduring a lot of pain. If ra is changing your view of everyday things orencia may help. 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When heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies only from tums finally tonight, as we have seen this president ial campaign voters looking for alternatives to candidates they consider mainstream. They include voters who had pretty much dropped out. Reporter today, 51yearold lori bins did something she hasnt done in a long time. She voted. Her return to the voting booth for one reason, donald trump. I felt good. I felt like i was voting for somebody that might do what they say they are going to do. Or try to. Reporter according to a survey, one in ten voters who went to the polls in South Carolina today is a socalled lost voter. Apathetic americans who had given up on the process until now. Who was the last president you. Reggie vote ing for . Ronald reagan. Reporter that was 36 years ago when 64yearold Charles Parish was a firefighter. Parish says he is now back, involved in donald trump. The man is a billionaire. What is it for him to gain . More power perhaps. Maybe. The man is powerful. To me, he is more apt to do the right thing for the country. Reporter surveys show 27 of the lost voters break for trump. While rubio draws 4 and cruz even less. Experts say because voters are drawn to trumps outsider status. Because of the nature of of this campaign, because of the nature of his appeal, most of the lost voters are coming back in, will vote for donald trump. Reporter the trump affect among lost voters may explain what could be a record turnout today. A wild card yet to be fully calculated. Kerry sanders, nbc news, columbia, South Carolina. Thats that will do it for us on this saturday night. We will have coverage of the South Carolina this nbc station. Msnbc and nbcnew. Com. Im lester hold. For all of us as nbc watching and good th decision 2016. Here is lester holt. Good evening, everyone. We are watching, of course, two major votes in race for the white house tonight. South carolina gop the polls have closed in South Carolina. Right now, it is too close to call. We can tell you its a threeway race. Appears to be a threeway race among trump, cruz and rubio. Are well behind. Too close to call in the South Carolina gop primary. Also today, the nevada. Nbc news projects Hillary Clinton will win. Holding back a charge by Bernie Sanders who came out of New Hampshire with a lot