COLUMBIA, S.C. — House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said he won’t endorse a presidential candidate until close to South Carolina’s Democratic primary date, if at all.
“I’m not gonna take sides,” Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American Democrat in the House, told POLITICO. “It’ll be a long time before I take sides in this race.”
The South Carolina primary isn’t until late February 2020. But Democratic candidates — both declared and undeclared — have already begun making stops in the critical early state.
Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were here in Columbia on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, with Sanders staying through Tuesday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will visit on Wednesday, followed by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who will make her first South Carolina stop on Friday.
Clyburn’s presence looms so large over his state’s primary that in the past he and the Democratic National Committee have agreed he should stay neutral.
To date, he has met with Harris, Booker, Sanders and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), although he said his meeting with Sanders wasn’t about presidential politics.
“I’ve talked to a lot of these folks,” Clyburn said. “I’m gonna help everybody I possibly can because I think that South Carolina was awarded this pre-primary status in large measure because I made the promise that I would not put my thumbs on the scale for any one candidate because the national party felt that that would be unfair, and the state party needs all these candidates coming here as often as they possibly can, staying as long as they possibly can, helping us build our party and help this state’s economy. So I’m not gonna do anything to cut that short.”
Nevertheless, Clyburn predicted to The New York Times that former Vice President Joe Biden would win the primary.
“If Biden gets in the race, everybody else would be running for second place,” Clyburn said. “From African-Americans, I’ve only heard three names being discussed: that’s Booker, Harris and Biden.”
Clyburn’s office clarified that his comments should not be “misconstrued as an endorsement.”
“His comments about Biden reflect the fact that Biden is very popular in South Carolina due to the amount of time he spends in the state and that he already has tremendous name recognition,” said Hope Derrick, a Clyburn spokeswoman.
Clyburn stayed neutral through the state’s 2008 primary, but he publicly told former President Bill Clinton to “chill a little bit” on his Obama attacks days before the vote. The ex-president blamed Clyburn for his wife’s thrashing in South Carolina in an angry 2 a.m. call, according to the Democratic leader’s memoir.
Clyburn didn’t endorse President Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton until June that year. But he backed Clinton over Sanders in 2016 about a week before the state’s primary and told reporters that Sanders never asked for his endorsement. Clinton ultimately crushed Sanders in South Carolina, 74 percent to 26 percent.
“The last time I did get involved, late, on behalf of Hillary,” he recalled. “This time, if I get involved, it will be late. Publicly involved. But my family will know what I’m doing.”
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