House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn is planning to endorse Joe Biden later this week in order to fortify the presidential contender’s South Carolina “firewall” against the looming threat from his rival Bernie Sanders, according to Breitbart News.
Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress, reportedly sees his endorsement of Biden as a “last-ditch effort to blunt Bernie Sanders’ momentum.”
“I do believe it will be an extra burden for us to have to carry,” the majority whip said about the prospect of the frontrunner Sanders’ taking the Democrat Party nomination. “This is South Carolina, and South Carolinians are pretty leery about that title ‘socialist.’” A Sanders win would be a great concern to establishment Democrats like Clyburn.
Despite once leading his opponents in the state by double digits, the gaffe-prone Biden holds only a narrow lead in South Carolina over Sanders and environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer after losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.