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For decades, ambitious politicians eyeing future presidential runs have made pilgrimages to Iowa and New Hampshire, casually attending trade shows and local fundraising dinners as if they happened to be in the area. I stopped by.
When President Biden urged Democrats to put South Carolina first on the presidential primary calendar, the geography of the party’s political activists changed. They are now working to expand their support in southern states with a black primary voting base that is better representative of the modern Democratic Party, rather than in mostly white northern regions.
So when Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on Friday for her ninth visit to the state since taking office, she was a known number of people coming. She and Mr. Biden are running for renomination in the absence of a strong challenger, but the relationships they have built in the state could give them an easy ticket to victory in the party’s first certified primary on Saturday. It is believed that this will play a role in the acquisition.
Harris’ trip, like her college trip last year and her continued touring efforts to defend abortion rights and promote Democratic policies, also served two major purposes. One is to try to shore up Mr. Biden’s remaining vulnerabilities with black voters and young voters. Ahead of the next presidential election in 2028, we will place the first woman and first woman of color at the forefront as vice president.
Arguably South Carolina’s most influential Democrat has already endorsed Harris as a future White House candidate.
“I made my support for her clear several months ago,” said Congressman James E. Clyburn. Her endorsement of Biden before the state’s 2020 primary helped revitalize his struggling campaign and help her win the nomination. “That’s why we had to re-elect the ticket. And then we talk about its viability.”
Harris, who wrapped up her 2020 presidential campaign months before the South Carolina primary, has been trying to bond here.
“There’s an unspoken understanding in this state between the vice president and an African-American woman,” said Trav Robertson, former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman. “She doesn’t have to go into her room and say anything, because they already know that they have a common experience.”
Harris was part of a parade of Biden campaign surrogates who traveled to South Carolina to support the president in the primary, where the outcome is largely in doubt. Mr. Biden’s competitors include Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who is largely unknown and hasn’t spent a penny on TV ads in the state, and minimal support in the New Hampshire primary despite Mr. Biden’s absence. Marianne Williamson is a self-help author who has compiled a collection of. Ballot paper.
No one has energized South Carolina voters more than Harris. Although Harris has been seen as Biden’s natural successor, she does not tend to be at the top of the Democratic Party’s list of 2028 presidential candidates. On Friday in Orangeburg, South Carolina, she met with a group of local pastors. Some of them are pastors with whom he has known for many years. She stood in a photo line that included supporters of her 2020 campaign. She spoke at the last rally before the primary.
Her local connections were obvious. Her Orangeburg native and Democratic National Committee chairman, Jamie Harrison, called her “our MVP,” and Clyburn affectionately called her “my girl” from the stage. called.
“In 2020, it was South Carolina that put President Joe Biden and I on the path to the White House,” she told the audience. “Joe Biden is the president of the United States because of his accomplishments, and I am the first woman and first black woman to be the vice president of the United States.”
The Biden campaign has hired four local staff members and has supported politicians ranging from celebrities (California Gov. Gavin Newsom) to semi-famous (former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu) to lesser-known politicians. We encourage you to visit. (Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis).
Davis spent Wednesday canvassing for Biden at six stops across South Carolina. Mr. Davis, who is only 34 years old and black, volunteered his time to participate in the campaign to promote the message to young black men. Polls show that audiences are skeptical about supporting the president.
Davis acknowledged in an interview that he is new to South Carolina.
“By the end of the speech, I had a lot of fans following me,” he said. “I think they were like, ‘Oh, we’re so glad you came.’ We had no idea who you were, but we were glad you came.”
Some surrogates are trying to sway Democratic voters by warning that Republicans are a threat to them. Landrieu on Tuesday addressed the right’s “rhetoric” that sometimes includes racist messages to black voters in Ridgeland, South Carolina.
“You’re from the South,” he said, “and you hear dog whistles like trains coming down the tracks.” “Some say they want to make America great again. I have news for you: America is already great.”
“It’s always been like that,” a woman in the crowd yelled back.
Harris’ efforts to strengthen her political prospects extend beyond her efforts to appeal to voters who are expected to have an outsized influence on choosing the 2028 Democratic nominee.
Emily’s List, a Democratic fundraising giant that works to elect women who support abortion rights, has announced it will spend tens of millions of dollars this year defending and promoting Harris.
The group views her success as an important extension of its mission to promote more Democratic women to public office. The organization will be joined by other groups, such as the National Women’s Law Center, which is poised to act as a kind of watchdog on the campaign and condemn sexist and racist attacks against Ms. Harris. .
An Emily’s List poll conducted last year found that Ms. Harris has high favorability ratings among key demographics in the Democratic Party, including black women, young voters and college graduates. Still, she remained largely unknown to many.
According to the group’s poll, about one-third of Democratic and independent voters do not know about her personal background, including her career as California attorney general and junior senator, or her accomplishments as vice president. Ta.
California Sen. LaFonza Butler, who was in charge of Emily’s List before Newsom filled the seat vacated last year by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said the pandemic-dominated 2020 general election He said of the frenetic nature of the election. , Ms. Harris’ opportunities to forge bonds with voters across the country were limited.
“She still needs to introduce herself to this country,” Butler said. “The reason her people don’t know about her is because she hasn’t had the opportunity to tell her own story.”
But the Harris-Biden team is now focused on winning big in South Carolina.
The local Democratic Party allows its supporters to freely choose which party to vote for in the primary, but is urging them to vote in the Democratic race rather than waiting for the Republican election later this month. Some may be considering strategically supporting former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her long-term battle with former President Donald J. Trump.
Clay Middleton, a veteran Democratic operative and senior adviser to Biden’s team in the state, said the campaign has not told him its turnout goals.
He said the campaign’s strategy of funneling surrogates like Newsom and Landrieu to remote, rural towns is an effort to boost turnout in counties that aren’t performing well in state elections.
“High-ranking representation is rarely available in these counties,” Middleton said. “These surrogate mothers have been spending time there connecting with people.”
The Biden campaign has carefully avoided making predictions about Saturday’s turnout, but Clyburn on Friday set the bar for success at 150,000 to 200,000 votes, with the president receiving 70% to 75% of them. .
“Seventy percent would be success for me,” he said in an interview.
When Hillary Clinton defeated Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016, just over 371,000 people voted. In 2020, there was no competitive Republican primary, but in races where voting was still open, 12 Democrats appeared on the ballot and about 537,000 people voted. South Carolina did not hold a primary in 2012, when President Barack Obama was seeking re-election, and no Democratic senators filed to run in the state.
J.A. Moore, a South Carolina Democratic congressman who was one of the first state officials to endorse Harris’ campaign in the 2020 presidential race, said Harris’ frequent visits as vice president were He said it served as a “testing ground” for building relationships with party members in the department. The party’s base of black voters, young people and women were critical to Biden’s winning coalition in the 2020 general election.
“She has built real, connected relationships here, especially with the Black community, but also with women and youth,” Moore said. “Just her showing up in different places has a huge effect.”
lisa lerer Contributed to the report.
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