Biden’s weekend project: Reach black voters
Former VP making first S.C. trip as ’20 candidate
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Joe Biden will have his first chance this weekend to demonstrate whether he can attract the type of diverse coalition that twice sent Barack Obama to the White House.
The former vice president has opened his presidential campaign with explicit appeals to white, working-class voters across the Midwest, pledging his allegiance to unions and promising to rebuild the middle class. His premier trip to South Carolina as a 2020 contender Saturday will show whether his message will resonate among black voters, whose support will be crucial in winning the nation’s first Southern primary.
Proving that he can win over black voters would be an essential part of Biden’s argument that he is the most electable Democrat in the race. Obama was the last Democrat to win the White House, and his success was based in part on his ability to unite black and white voters against his Republican foes.
But Biden is facing plenty of competition in South Carolina. At least 15 Democratic candidates have held more than 100 events here so far this year. Two of his rivals — Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — are black and are making explicit appeals to African-american voters. Biden is aiming to distinguish himself by relying on his decadeslong ties to the state and the goodwill he generated during eight years as Obama’s deputy.
“He is a known quantity in this state,” state Sen. Gerald Malloy, a member of South Carolina’s Legislative Black Caucus and chairman of this year’s state Democratic convention, said of Biden. “I think that there’s a longing … for the service of President Obama, and Vice President Biden right at his side.”
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is the highest ranking African-american in Congress, said Biden appears to be the candidate to beat in his home state.
Publicly, at least, other Democratic presidential candidates aren’t fazed by the Biden effect.
Asked about Biden during a recent campaign stop in Columbia, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said, “I will run my race.” In Manning, Booker told reporters he’s committed to a positive campaign.
Questioned in Orangeburg about the fact that Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the early front-runners, are white men in their 70s, Harris said, “Look, it’s early. … And I actually wouldn’t hang my hat on that, period.”
Meanwhile, on the Democratic campaign trail Friday:
Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee called for the nation’s entire electrical grid and all new vehicles and buildings to be carbon pollution free by 2030. The plan is the first piece of a series of climate action proposals Inslee will make in the coming weeks.
Presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar released a plan to spend $100 billion over a decade to improve mental health care and fight substance abuse. The wide-ranging plan includes funding for early intervention of mental health disorders and drug use, a national suicide prevention campaign, better access to treatment for opioid addiction and other issues and recruitment of health care workers for underserved rural areas and cities with the highest need.