Biden Returns to SC to Mobilize Supporters Ahead of Primary

COLUMBIA, S.C. — President Joe Biden returned to South Carolina on Saturday to celebrate the elevation of the state as the Democrats’ first sanctioned primary and acknowledge the importance of the state’s Black voters.

That voting block was critical to reviving Biden’s campaign in 2020, a year in which former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg scored a disputed victory in the Iowa caucuses, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pulled off a narrow victory over Buttigieg in New Hampshire.

Sanders then handily defeated Buttigieg in the Nevada caucus. By then Biden, who had never won a primary or caucus in three presidential runs, was largely given up for dead.

All that changed after then-House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., endorsed Biden and rallied Black voters behind the former vice president.

Days later, Biden swept the field in the South Carolina Democratic primary, garnering 49% of the vote and besting second-place finisher Sanders by 29 percentage points.

The Biden campaign said the outcome proved he had the most diverse coalition of any Democratic candidate and his victory in every county in the state was largely attributed to the support of 61% of Black voters in a state where they make up about 60% of the electorate.

Biden reflected on this history during remarks at an event billed as “South Carolina’s First in the Nation Dinner,” which was held in a large facility at the state fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina.

“Jim [Clyburn] is the reason I’m president, because he endorsed me and got all of you to help me,” Biden said as the standing ovation that greeted his arrival on stage evolved into a sustained chant of “four more years.”

So loud and sustained were the chants, in fact, that they completely drowned out protesters — some pro-Palestinian, others climate activists — who tried to disrupt the president’s speech.

The central theme of the first third of Biden’s remarks was “promises made, promises kept,” a line he repeated after each of the points he wanted to drive home.

“We have record employment in this country, including the lowest number of Black unemployment in history,” he said.

“We defeated Big Pharma and now insulin is available at no more than $35 a month,” he continued.

“Today, more Americans, more Black Americans, have health insurance than ever,” Biden said.

The president then spoke of his administration’s support for historically Black colleges and universities, something it has invested about $7 billion in over the course of the president’s first term.

From there he segued to the administration itself, noting his pride at having “the most diverse administration in history.

“I made a commitment to have an administration that looks like America and taps into the full talents of our nation,” he said. “I did that because I know our diversity is our strength in America and always has been.”

He also talked glowingly of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — the first Black woman ever nominated to the nation’s highest court — chosen to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

He called Jackson “smarter than all the rest.”

Biden also warned attendees that former President Donald Trump, who currently appears on course to be the Republican nominee, is a threat to all communities of color.

“The fact is, he believes if it’s good for America, it is bad for him politically,” Biden said of his predecessor in the Oval Office.

“Trump also said recently that the one president he doesn’t want to be like is Herbert Hoover,” the president said. “Well Donald, it’s too late.

“There are only two presidents in American history who left office with fewer jobs than when they took office — Herbert Hoover and, yes, ‘Donald ‘Herbert Hoover’ Trump.

“By the way, have you noticed he’s a little confused these days?” the president asked, referring to comments Trump made about the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol during a recent rally.

Trump had said former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, who is running against him for the Republican presidential nomination, refused National Guard assistance as the rioters breached the Capitol.

Haley was not in office at the time and had ended her tenure as Trump’s U.N. ambassador two years earlier.

“Apparently, he can’t tell Nikki Haley from Nancy Pelosi,” Biden quipped.

From there, without mentioning Trump directly, the president turned to the border security deal he’s trying to get through Congress.

Several reports have stated that Trump is pressuring the House to scuttle the deal in order to deny Biden a significant win on the border issue before the November election.

“Two months ago, my team began to work with a bipartisan group of senators to put together the toughest and smartest border security bill in history,” he said. “It would finally provide the funding I requested early on and again in October to secure our borders and hire an additional 1300 border patrol officers.

“If this bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly,” Biden said. “Congress needs to get it done.”

The president then asked his listeners to imagine “the future nightmare” of having Trump back in office.

“Trump and his MAGA friends would once again try to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, ripping away the protections you have under it, even if you have a pre-existing condition. I won’t let that happen.

“Instead of saving Social Security for the working people in the middle class …. Trump and his allies will give another massive tax break to the super wealthy,” he continued. “Trump brags about taking away a woman’s freedom to choose. And now they’re hatching a plan for a total national ban on abortion. I won’t let that happen.

“If you reelect me and [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] with a Democratic House and a bigger majority in the Senate this November, imagine the future we can have, one in which we will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”

Biden closed by recalling his recent speech at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“When I spoke there a few weeks ago, I said there are extreme and dangerous forces at work in this country, dividing us, dragging us back to the past, instead of leading us to a future, and refusing to accept the results of legitimate elections … seeking, as Trump says, to terminate the Constitution, embracing violence and white supremacy.

“I said in Charleston, that there is a second Lost Cause emerging in America. The first Lost Cause perpetuated the lie that slavery wasn’t the cause of the Civil War. And we’ve been paying a price for that lie for generations,” he said.

“The second last cause is Trump’s big lie that the 2020 election was stolen,” Biden continued. “We cannot allow that lie to live either because it threatens our very democracy … the Bible teaches we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free … We believe we’re all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We leave no one behind. Everyone deserves a fair shot. We give hate no safe harbor. And we stand against the evil of white supremacy today, tomorrow and always.

“Are you with me?” he asked as the venue again filled with loud chants of “four more years.”

“Then let’s finish what we started. Feb. 3 is your primary, the first in the nation. Organize, mobilize, vote. Let’s remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. And there’s nothing beyond our capacity if we stand together,” Biden said.

Among those speaking on the undercard of the event were Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, And Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who is challenging Biden in the primary.

Clyburn introduced the president with remarks that came in at just over 24 minutes.

Before Biden spoke, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, told reporters that Donald Trump’s early ascension to being the likely Republican nominee “has given clarity to the stakes” of the 2024 election.

“He exceeded expectations in New Hampshire — and he wasn’t even on the ballot. And, of course, I think he’s going to do very, very well here.”

Khanna continued, “[People] realize that abortion is on the ballot. They realize that having an economy that works for the working class is on the ballot and they’re unified behind a president who shares their beliefs.”

Going forward, the congressman said, “you’re going to have a lot of progressive leaders like me go out and make the case that young voters and progressives and independents all need to rally around the president as the best chance for peace in the Middle East and the best chance of having a progressive agenda for the working class.”

“I mean, Joe Biden is a president who is going to be fighting for more affordable housing, who’s going to be fighting for child care, who’s going to be fighting for free community college,” he said. “As for Donald Trump, we know what he’s going to do. He’s going to do more tax cuts for the very wealthy.”

Prior to arriving at the fairgrounds, Biden, accompanied by Clyburn, former Columbia Mayor Stephen Benjamin (now White House Director of Public Engagement), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Biden Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks, paid a visit to the Regal Lounge, a predominantly African American men’s barbershop and salon in Columbia.

After greeting co-owners Landry and Chynna Phillips, the president shook hands and chatted with several customers, stylists and other members of the staff.

On a humorous side note, one customer had his head-shaving interrupted by Biden’s visit — shaving cream still covering most of his head — after a secret service agency asked his barber to put down the razor during the president’s stay.

Biden is expected to win the Feb. 3 primary by a wide margin over Phillips who opted not to seek reelection to Congress to challenge the incumbent president of his own party in a primary.

Phillips himself said during his remarks that Biden could garner as much as 95% of the vote in the state.

Speaking to reporters later, Phillips initially stood by his predictions “considering the president’s support here,” but then said he’d just been told the most recent polls have the president getting about 69% of the vote “with a little bit going to me and to Marianne Williamson, and the remainder undecided, which is interesting with an incumbent president.”

Phillips went on to talk about the “crisis in our politics in Washington,” a crisis he described as having too many hold on to power for too long, frustrating the ambitions of younger generations.

“I’m running, in part, because of that,” he said. “There are a lot of people who want to participate in our democracy, but there’s nowhere for them to go when people are staying in office, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years.

“Now, I respect these people, but when you have four generations, perhaps, that are denied the chance to serve our country, that’s a problem,” he said.

The dinner came at the end of a busy week for the Biden campaign and its allies in South Carolina.

On Friday, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden headlined an event in West Columbia, speaking before members of the National Education Association. Her appearance marked her first campaign visit to the state in 2024.

“Without South Carolina, there is no President Biden,” she told a crowd gathered in the teen center of the Brookland Baptist Church.

“You elected my husband because he knows how to get things done,” she continued. “And he’s delivered results again and again. From safely reopening schools, to addressing the mental health and academic needs of our students, to signing the bipartisan gun safety law, to loan forgiveness for public servants.”

Prior to her visit, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge also made appearances in the state aimed at getting out the Biden vote on primary day.

Biden was scheduled to stay in South Carolina overnight and speak at the St. John the Baptist Church in Columbia on Sunday morning before returning to the White House.

The first lady moved on to Palm Harbor, Florida, and Houston, Texas, where she attended a pair of campaign fundraisers.

Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff were also on the campaign trail this weekend, appearing at get out the vote events in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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