By Abraham Kenmore
SCDailyGazette.com
A longtime ally of President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn singled out one presidential decision for particular praise in his address to the Democratic National Convention.
“We’re all grateful for one of the best decisions he made, selecting Kamala Harris as vice president and endorsing her to replace him,” Clyburn told the audience during a five-minute speech Monday night.
South Carolina’s only Democratic member of Congress was part of a lengthy lineup on the first of a four-day convention to formally endorse Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Besides praising Biden for his “lifetime of achievement” in elected office, Clyburn presented Harris as a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump, including on abortion. Trump appointed the U.S. Supreme Court justices whose 2022 decision overturned the half-century precedent set by Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a national right to an abortion through the second trimester.
“Kamala Harris is a true battle-tested leader … who gets things done,” Clyburn said. “While Donald Trump has been bragging about how he overturned Roe, Kamala has been fiercely advocating for the restoration of reproductive freedoms.”
Calling Project 2025 “Jim Crow 2.0,” Clyburn said Trump “falsely pleads ignorance” of it.
Democrats say the policy agenda created by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation is effectively a blueprint for a second Trump term. But Trump has repeatedly repudiated it, calling the 900-plus-page book on overhauling the federal government “seriously extreme.” However, there are links in its crafting, as directors of what the Heritage Foundation dubs a Presidential Transition Project for the “next conservative president” include people who worked in Trump’s administration.
The son of a preacher, Clyburn cited two verses from 2 Corinthians to encourage his audience to push forward: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
“Our great democracy has been tested, and so has the basic goodness of the American people,” he said. “Our resolve to remain a great country, with freedom and justice for all, will not falter.”
Clyburn continued to back Biden even as other Democrats began calling for the president to withdraw. However, he made clear Harris should be the nominee if Biden chose to exit the race.
Biden credits Clyburn’s endorsement of him prior to the 2020 South Carolina Democratic primary for his 30-point victory in the Palmetto State, after disappointing finishes that year in Iowa and New Hampshire.
This spring, Biden awarded Clyburn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Clyburn has been a vocal advocate for Biden, including touting his proposals on student loan forgiveness.
Clyburn, 84, is expected to easily win reelection to his 17th term representing the 14-county 6th District. It runs from Columbia south to Charleston and extends from rural counties on the state’s southern border with Georgia to rural Williamsburg County in the Pee Dee.
In November, Clyburn faces a challenge from Republican Duke Buckner and three minor party challengers.
Clyburn was not the only person from the Palmetto State on the stage Monday night. DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, gaveled the convention in and later spoke to the crowd.
“When we elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, they will build on our accomplishments and they will create a country that works for every American,” he said. “They will lead us in the fight for America and believe me when we fight,” he paused, letting the audience fill in the rest — “we win.”
Harrison also gave a shoutout to South Carolina, alluding to the state motto, “while I breathe, I hope.”
“Folks, I believe in the power of hope,” Harrison said. “But it’s going to take more hope to win this election. So, in the next 78 days, our day can’t just be ‘while I breathe I hope,’ it must be ‘while I breathe I vote,’ because that is how we make hope real for all of America.”
Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
