Rep. Jim Clyburn on protecting democracy: “I don’t think the American people are doing enough”

If you’ve paid attention to Democratic presidential politics in recent decades, you know South Carolina matters – an early test in the primary race, and a true center of power in the Democratic Party.

Though African-Americans are a quarter of South Carolina’s population, Jim Clyburn is the state’s sole Black representative (and Democrat) in the U.S. House. And over 33 years, Clyburn – a civil rights activist, party strategist, and political kingmaker – has built his political network one handshake and one hug at a time. His annual fish fry is a must-attend event for any Democrat with White House ambitions.

Asked about Joe Biden’s contention that receiving Clyburn’s endorsement was crucial to his victory in 2020, Clyburn replied, “That might be true. He says it’s true! I don’t know!” He added, “I’m too good a politician to deny that.”

In the 1960s, Clyburn was a campus organizer. It’s how he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also met his late wife, Emily, when they were both protesting for civil rights.

Clyburn sees a direct line from the history of oppressive Jim Crow laws that he protested against, to the present-day push to roll back the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Asked if Democrats today are doing enough to protest today, Clyburn replied, “I don’t think the American people are doing enough. I’m not gonna allow this to be a Democrat versus a Republican thing. That is not policy and politics; that is what we as Americans ought to be about. And do we follow through enough? I don’t know that you can really know that, until the final verdict is in. And that won’t happen until November.”

Asked if the fights and debates over civil rights issues issues that he was having in the 1960s ever ended, Clyburn said, “Well, they did end. They’re just coming back.”

Clyburn also said that he expects, should Democrats win the majority in November, that President Trump will not respect the result unless it’s overwhelming. “I absolutely believe that, because he’s done it [before],” Clyburn said. “The best way to tell what a person will do is to look at what he or she has done. And so, if he’s done it, he’s capable of doing it again.”

Clyburn on Biden’s aborted bid

Although the midterms are Clyburn’s focus today, President Biden’s aborted 2024 candidacy remains very much in mind for many Democrats, who continue to discuss the impact of that move. Clyburn said for Biden to drop out of his reelection bid was “the right decision for him. I think it was the right decision for the party. I think some decisions were made after that which were not good decisions. I think mistakes were made in how the campaign went forward.”

But Clyburn has frustrations with how the Democrats ran their national campaign after Biden dropped out of the race. “I was getting phone calls from people all over the country, especially from Michigan and Pennsylvania, asking me, ‘Please tell somebody they are not doing what we need to do to turn this vote out,'” he said. “Now, that’s a fact. Now, a lot of people don’t want to deal with that. But I was getting the phone calls. So, I know that people felt that algorithms were driving the train rather than people who had the boots that needed to be put on the ground.”

Seeking re-election

Earlier this month, “Sunday Morning” followed Clyburn to his alma mater, South Carolina State University, a historically Black university, where he shared some advice with students: “When you think about leadership, being someone’s representative, make an early decision as to what you want to do in that representation. Do you want to make headlines? Or do you want to make headway?”

In his career Clyburn has made both, most recently for his decision to seek re-election for an 18th term.. He will turn 86 this summer.

He acknowledges that he took a long time to come to that decision: “I was talking to one person who said to me, ‘Are you sure that you’re doing this out of concern, or selfishness?’ And I asked myself, are you being selfish, or do you still maintain concern for your constituents? And I do.”

Clyburn is not the only candidate this year for whom age is an issue; there are a dozen members of Congress who are 80+ and seeking re-election. Asked what keeps him going, Clyburn replied, “My parents instilled in me the obligation to carry it forward.”

Even after all these years, Jim Clyburn wants to remain in the ring for at least one more round.

READ AN EXCERPT: “The First Eight” by Jim Clyburn
The South Carolina Democrat, the ninth Black man to represent his state in the House of Representatives, writes of his predecessors who helped direct the course of America during and after Reconstruction.

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Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Jason Schmidt.