Clyburn: I Urged Biden to Vow to Pick Black Woman for SCOTUS Because I Thought That Would Save His Campaign, 'And He Did'

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that during the 2020 Democratic primaries, he urged then-candidate Joe Biden to raise the issue of nominating a black woman to the Supreme Court because “he had lost three primary campaigns in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada and everybody was saying that his campaign was over” and Clyburn thought “the South Carolina primary could be a turning point in the campaign and I thought that one way to do that was to address this issue, and he did and addressed it many, many times since.”

Clyburn said, “I knew that one of the real undercurrents floating throughout the black community was the fact that no black woman had ever been seriously considered for the United States Supreme Court. And at the time, there were three women sitting on the court, and one had already retired from the court. And that was a real problem. So, I maintained and I said to the then-candidate, that that was an issue that I thought it would be good for him to address in the campaign if he got a chance to do so in the debate. Because remember, he had lost three primary campaigns in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada and everybody was saying that his campaign was over. I said to him, I don’t think so. I know of your relationship with the black community, your relationship with South Carolina, and the South Carolina primary could be a turning point in the campaign and I thought that one way to do that was to address this issue, and he did and addressed it many, many times since. And he has put together a list, I’m assuming that this list I saw of seven people, that’s the list that’s coming from his folks. I hope it is. Because the young lady that I had been pushing him to consider is on that list.”

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