Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), whose support saved President Joe Biden’s flailing primary campaign in 2020, said Friday he believed Biden remains mentally fit enough to run for reelection but he would support Vice President Kamala Harris if the president decided to drop out.
Clyburn’s vote of confidence, albeit somewhat qualified, comes on the heels of BIden’s high-wire NATO press conference performance Thursday night meant to dispel doubts and amid a continued string of defections by Capitol Hill Democrats who would like to see a new party standard-bearer against Donald Trump in November.
Asked on NBC’s “Today” show if Biden was still “the same man” Clyburn endorsed in the 2020 South Carolina primary, Clyburn said, “Physically? I don’t think so. Mentally? I do think so.”
“He is still grasping what this country is all about. He knows what a democracy’s all about. He knows what we need to do as a country to take advantage of the future and maintain our relationship with all of our allies around the world and what we need to do for our constituents throughout the country,” Clyburn said.
Clyburn, 83, backed Biden in his state’s primary in 2020 after Biden had stumbled badly in Iowa and New Hampshire. Biden’s win in South Carolina was seen as a turning point for his successful campaign for the White House and Clyburn’s support was seen as a major factor in that win.
Despite Clyburn’s vote of confidence in Biden, he also said the president — who reiterated again Thursday night he was staying in the race — should be allowed to make his own decision on running again.
“The conversation should focus on the record of this administration, on the alternative to his election and let Joe Biden continue to make his own decisions,” Clyburn said. “He’s earned that right and I am going to give him that much respect.”
While Biden did a better job of answering questions and keeping his train of thought Thursday night than he did in his disastrous June 27 debate against Trump, three more House Democrats — Reps. Eric Sorensen (Ill.), Scott Peters (Calif.) and Jim Himes (Conn.) — jumped ship and called on Biden to not seek reelection afterwards.
They followed five more House Democrats who had defected earlier in the day.
Clyburn said Democrats had until Aug. 19, when the national convention begins in Chicago, to decide the issue, but he threw his backing to Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden did step aside.
“Absolutely. There’s no question about that,” he said. “I think she’s demonstrated, especially these recent weeks, when all of this microscope has been focused on her and him, she has acquitted herself famously,” he said.