Joe Biden soared to the top of the 2020 Democratic primary in South Carolina, and on Monday, the president will return to the state, aiming to energise his reelection campaign with the support of its Black voters.
The Democratic primary in the state on February 3rd will not be a close race. Despite South Carolina’s relative insignificance in the overall race, it will serve as the initial litmus test for Biden’s electoral woes because to the high number of Black voters who have shown disengagement and disillusionment with the political process in surveys and Democratic focus groups.
In an appearance on AWN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn stated, “We have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done.” Clyburn went on to say that he met down with the president to make the argument personally.
Despite his campaign’s poor showing in early general election polls and the fact that some within his government believe he is too weak to run for reelection, Biden has been attempting to rally the nation behind his claim that his victory will determine the fate of democracy. On Friday, he passionately made his case in a speech close to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the site of George Washington’s and the Continental Army’s triumph over a terrible winter.
However, by visiting the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, he is reviving a different and tragic chapter in American history. He is also making a clear effort to regain the support of Black people who have abandoned him, at a location that he will later claim serves as a warning about the dangers of extremism.
A Biden campaign official stated that the president “will remind the American people that the same hate that plagued the Mother Emanuel Church years ago hasn’t gone away – and it is incumbent on our elected officials to do their part in rooting out hate, extremism and division in our country.” The pews were filled with survivors, families of the victims, clergy, and interfaith leaders following the 2015 shooting.
The president is scheduled to meet with victims’ families and survivors on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Clyburn, who is also a co-chair of Biden’s campaign and will be present at the address, told AWN in a follow-up interview that he thinks Biden can still win over voters if he takes the time to personally connect with them and highlight the administration’s achievements.
Being visible to others is one thing. Listening to someone is another thing entirely. However, having others sense your presence is the most powerful tool. “That is what works,” Clyburn added, referencing Biden’s long experience in the state and the fact that his campaign had operatives stationed there. He’s effective because of that. Joe Biden is a sensation.
The most compelling aspect, according to Clyburn, is Biden’s ties to the state and the community.
An unexpectedly large victory in the 2020 primary turned around his bid overnight after a string of near-campaign-ending early losses. This occurred after decades of family vacations he began taking in the years following the accident that killed his first wife and baby daughter, including in 2015, in the weeks after his son Beau died.
It had been almost nine years, in the spring of 2015, when Biden had visited Mother Emanuel. Two weeks prior to the massacre, a White supremacist had killed nine Black members of the congregation—including pastor and state senator Clementa Pinckney—during a Bible study in the basement. The congregation and he were both in grief.
Biden, who was vice president at the time, spoke for a very brief period. Then he said, “No words can mend a broken heart, no music can fill a gaping void.” Um, yeah. “There are moments when you question, even for a fleeting moment, your faith.”
Former South Carolina state party chair and US Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, who is now the chair of the Democratic National Committee, has stated that, as a native South Carolinian, Biden’s comments are still “burnt” in his memory.
Harrison predicted that Joe Biden will leave South Carolina with a large following due to the fact that the state is familiar with him and his tireless advocacy on their behalf. The sincerity of Joe Biden’s character is something that has stayed with me. That had nothing to do with public perception or politics. It defines him.
In the race for Black support, Biden’s test ground
A deep well of steady Black support sustained Biden through the 2020 primaries, because to his decades of effort and his relationship to former President Barack Obama. That backing helped him win South Carolina by such a wide margin that it hastened the conclusion of the primary contest, following humiliating losses in primaries with much Whiter electorates.
Biden defeated Trump by a margin of 87% to 12% among Black voters in 2020, according to AWN exit surveys.
Here, a December poll by Quinnipiac University found that 62% of Black voters approve of Biden, giving him 80% of the vote in a hypothetical race against Trump. Among hypothetical Black voters, 75% chose him over Trump, according to a poll by the New York Times and Siena College.
Democratic insiders and outsiders to the Biden campaign have been focusing on other metrics. The fact that Black voters do not cast ballots is a more pressing issue; this was especially true in the 2020 and 2022 midterms, when turnout was lower than expected. Their argument is that Biden will have to rely heavily on votes from cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee to make up for the Republican nominee’s strong support among White voters in more rural parts of battleground states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin.
Statistics that Biden’s staff like to bring up include the decline in Black unemployment and the expansion of Black-owned businesses, the decline in the price of insulin, and the funding that the Biden administration has provided to historically Black institutions and universities. Efforts in early advertising and organising have highlighted that record, emphasising the dire consequences for Black Americans in the event of a Trump presidency return.
Quentin Fulks, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, did, however, admit that the hill is still very steep.
We will not rush into these areas by parachute to solicit their votes at the eleventh hour. Last week, Fulks assured reporters that they would earn their vote. “We must ensure that every single one of the minority voters comprehends the decision they are faced with; after all, they are the ones whose votes matter the most in this election.”