(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Donald Trump.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump just scored his second victory of the election season by winning the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

Trump was declared the winner shortly after South Carolina poll sites closed at 7 p.m. EST.

With 73% of precincts reporting, Trump held a nearly 11-point lead over Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

"What a great night. Thank you South Carolina, a special place with truly amazing people! LOVE," Trump tweeted Saturday evening.

Trump began his victory speech earlier in the night by thanking his local supporters and South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, who endorsed him. He said he'd take McMaster over South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who endorsed Rubio, "any time."

He then turned the stage over to his wife, Melania Trump.

"Just want to say an amazing place South Carolina," she said. "Congratulations to my husband, he was working very hard, and he loves you. We love you, and we are going ahead to Nevada and we will see what happens. He will be the best president."

Then Trump had his daughter, Ivanka Trump, speak to his supporters.

"Thank you South Carolina, this is an amazing, amazing night," she said. "The momentum since the beginning of this campaign has been unbelievable. ... My father is an incredibly hard worker and he will be working for each and every one of you and together, we will make America great again."

Retaking the mic, Trump then took a second to call out political pundits who said that, once other candidates dropped out, Trump would likely be able to be taken out.

"A number of the pundits said, 'Well, if a couple of the other candidates drop out, if you add their scores together it's going to equal Trump,'" he said. "They're geniuses. They don't understand that as people drop out, I'm going to get a lot of those votes also, so you don't just add them together."

He then congratulated Cruz and Rubio for doing "quite well" in the state.

(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Donald Trump.

Trump's win is very historically significant, as he just joined a very exclusive group of candidates.

Only three Republican candidates before Trump have won both the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries in contested years. Those three, Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and 1992, and John McCain in 2008, went on to win the nomination.

In addition, just one South Carolina primary winner has not been the Republican nominee — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich won in 2012, but lost the nomination to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.