Biden reminisces on 2020 SC primary win at Columbia fundraiser: ‘You never gave up on me’

At a fundraiser with South Carolina Democratic leaders to celebrate former President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn didn’t say whether he’ll run for an 18th term in Congress — but told his party it should look to the past for insight into how to move forward.

“What we need today is what we got back in February 2020: a man who saw this country at a crossroads, who brought himself into the fight,” he said of the former president. “There’s no American ever who has demonstrated through his service more substance and, I might add, sustenance, than Joe Robinette Biden.”

Clyburn, 85, has represented South Carolina’s 6th district for more than 33 years. Though filing opens in about two weeks, he hasn’t yet indicated whether he’s running for reelection.

Some Democrats have been calling for the party’s older generation to step aside for younger leaders.

Several of Clyburn’s colleagues in Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, also 85, and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, 86, have announced they’re not seeking reelection. 

But calls for generational change seemed far away at the state party fundraiser Friday in Columbia, as party leaders focused on celebrating the past.

The event at the Columbia Museum of Art commemorated the sixth anniversary of Biden’s 2020 victory in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary. 

Addressing a group of about 400 state party leaders, donors, and legislators who had gathered to honor him, Biden thanked South Carolina for helping put him in office in 2020.

“You never gave up on me,” the Pennsylvania-born former president said, calling the state home. 

He was particularly grateful to Clyburn, a longtime friend. When many were writing off Biden’s candidacy in early 2020, a “South Carolina member of Congress saved me,” Biden said of Clyburn. 

Heading into the Palmetto State’s first-in-the-South primary in February 2020, Biden’s presidential campaign was on shaky footing after fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

Then three days before South Carolinians went to the polls, Clyburn, the state’s lone Democrat on Capitol Hill, gave Biden his emphatic endorsement. Clips of Clyburn’s comments at a news conference where he announced his endorsement played at the start of the fundraiser.

Biden went on to trounce the other six Democrats on the South Carolina primary ballot, and, in November 2020, win the presidency.

“South Carolina knows – it’s never too late,” Biden told the crowd.

In his roughly 20-minute speech, he focused on bashing his two-time opponent, President Donald Trump, and on touting his contributions to Black Americans. He highlighted his appointment of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate. 

State party Chairwoman Christale Spain said Biden’s primary victory demonstrated that Black voters, and voters in the Deep South, were a critical part of the Democratic Party. Black voters make up a large part of South Carolina’s Democratic base.

“Never ever underestimate the power of the Deep South,” she said. “Never underestimate the power of Black voters.”

Clyburn remains the most powerful Democrat in South Carolina. Democrats eyeing a 2028 run for president seem already to be courting his endorsement, hoping for a repeat of his impact in 2020. 

Just last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s indicated he’s considering a 2028 presidential run, had Clyburn on his “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast to talk about civil rights history, voter identification laws and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Newsom stopped in South Carolina as part of his book tour, and held two meet-and-greet events in the state, a few days later.

Clyburn was the first African American to be House majority whip for multiple terms, and most recently held that title from 2019-2022. The state’s longest-serving member of Congress, he stepped down from a formal leadership role in the party in 2024. 

Biden’s presidential run in 2024, which ended shortly after a disastrous debate performance, further amplified calls within his party for its elder statesmen to retire. 

But age-related attacks haven’t always landed in South Carolina, home of the country’s oldest U.S. senator in office, Strom Thurmond, who retired at age 100. When he retired in 2003, months before his death, Thurmond was also the longest-serving senator in history, with more than 47 years. (His tenure now ranks fourth.)

During the 2022 governor’s race, Democrat Joe Cunningham hammered his opponent, incumbent Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, for his age. In one 2022 campaign video, Cunningham, then 40, called McMaster, then 75, part of a “geriatric oligarchy,” and called for age limits for politicians.

When asked about Cunningham’s age limits ad, Clyburn told WYFF: “Joe needs to grow up.”

McMaster went on to win overwhelmingly, earning 58% of the vote to Cunningham’s nearly 41%. It was the second-widest victory margin for any Republican governor in South Carolina since Reconstruction.