Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) has taken a bit of a backseat for the 119th Congress, as the 84-year-old is now merely a congressman after having served as the House Majority Whip from January 2019-January 2023. He also played a particularly crucial role in now former President Joe Biden becoming the Democratic Party nominee for 2020 after he won the South Carolina primary following embarrassing primary losses up to that point. Clyburn endorsed Biden and Biden agreed to pick a black woman as his vice president, which he ultimately did with Kamala Harris. The DNC even upended the primary schedule around for the 2024 cycle to reward South Carolina, drawing bipartisan ire, especially from New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the nation. Clyburn seems to be protective of Harris, including and especially when it comes to her loss last November to now President Donald Trump, after Biden was forced out of the race by his fellow Democrats and Harris was installed as the replacement nominee.
Clyburn's name came up once more earlier this month, to do with a book recently released, "Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House," co-authored by The Hill's Amie Parnes and NBC News' Jonathan Allen.
Here's how The Hill summarized details from the book about Clyburn's role, which also references former President Barack Obama, one of the main players in ousting Biden:
When Biden ran his statement by Rep. James Clyburn, the South Carolina Democrat said “there’s something missing” and stressed the president couldn’t “leave the field without endorsing a successor,” Parnes and Allen reported.
Clyburn, whose 2020 endorsement boosted Biden’s primary momentum, wanted to rally support for Harris, but he was reportedly aware that some other top Democrats — including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), former President Obama and some major donors — wanted to keep her from the nomination.
Clyburn's take on Harris becomes even more relevant in recent days. Last week, The New York Times put out a piece on the former vice president and failed Democratic nominee, and what her political plans for the future are. There were plenty of laughs over how Harris may open up a policy institute, in addition to the ideas of her running for governor in 2026 or for president yet again in 2028.
There was also plenty of lamenting and looking for blame in that article, all these months after Harris lost to Trump, and lost handily. "Sidelined and Still Processing Her Defeat, Harris Looks for a Way Back In," read the piece's headline.
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These excerpts really stood out:
Friends, former aides and advisers say Ms. Harris, 60, still thinks she would have beaten Mr. Trump if she’d had more than 107 days to campaign — the implication being that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. should have quit the race earlier.
...
Leaving last year behind has not been easy.
Ms. Harris has told friends and allies that she is still processing the November result, in which she lost every swing state and saw record numbers of Black and Latino voters, historically among the most reliable Democrats, reject her.
The piece came out last Thursday, and Clyburn was asked about it during his appearance the next day on CNN by Kate Bolduan. As Bolduan read from the report in how Harris' choice "is binary, she told people," in that she's running for governor or president, she asked Clyburn, "Which would you like to see her run for?"
After taking his time in sharing how he worked for former Gov. John West (D-SC), who served back in the 1970s, Clyburn used that story to share he wasn't going to tell Harris what to do. "So, I am not going to advise her as to what she should do or should not do," he made clear, though he did go on to say more.
"I will say this, I think that she is a tremendous talent. I think she ran a great campaign. I think she was ill served in that campaign by people who should have listened to some of us who saw and felt things. Listen to Bill Clinton when he told them what was going on. Listen to yours truly. When I was going around these rural communities, and I knew what we needed to do it and was not doing it. She was a great candidate, and I think she will make a great candidate in the future, whatever she decides to run for. But I'm not going to give any advice as to whether or not she should or should not," he said, with those compliments merely including how he thinks Harris "ran a great campaign." Then his remarks on that brief presidential run focused on his thoughts that "she was ill served in that campaign," as it's always somebody else's fault.
Bolduan acknowledged Clyburn's nonanswer by pointing out she knows that he gives advice, "you just keep it very private." She also spoke to the role that advice can play. "And your advice can be very influential when it comes to it," she added, bringing the segment to a close.
Asked if Kamala Harris should run for president again, Rep. Jim Clyburn says "I think she ran a great campaign" and "she was ill served in that campaign by people who should have listened to some of us...listen to yours truly."
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) April 11, 2025
"She was a great candidate, and I think she will… pic.twitter.com/IWeetYAsMB
