ELEVEN
Cedric Richmond’s political mentor, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, heard the critics. Biden again? Why not new blood? Shouldn’t Black Democrats rally behind one of their own?
But this was not a normal year to the South Carolina Democrat, two years older than Biden and the highest-ranking Black leader in Congress. Trump had to be defeated.
Clyburn, a sturdy orator going back to his childhood and his days as a public school teacher in Charleston, also prized his private time. Lately, he had been studying up on fascist histories, with a focus on Italy. He saw Trump as America’s Benito Mussolini in waiting.
Clyburn wondered if Trump would leave the White House if he lost reelection.
On a humid Friday, June 21, 2019, Biden arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, for Clyburn’s annual fish fry, a gathering that had become a must-stop for Democratic presidential hopefuls. The crowd was mostly Black, eating fried whiting filets with hot sauce.
Biden needed a bounce and a show of support from the South Carolina party king.
News coverage of Biden’s campaign had taken its worst turn. That week, Biden had said there was “some civility” years ago in Washington. He cited his experience of working with segregationist senators.
“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said at a fundraiser, referring to the late Mississippi senator and segregationist. “He never called me boy, he always called me son.”
Biden also recalled the late Georgia senator and segregationist Herman Talmadge, “one of the meanest guys I ever knew.
“You go down the list of all these guys. Well guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”
When later pressed on his remarks by a gaggle of reporters, Biden was defensive.
“I ran for the United States Senate because I disagreed with the views of the segregationists,” he said.
They asked him whether he would apologize.
“Apologize for what?” Biden asked, raising his eyebrow. “There’s not a racist bone in my body.”
Clyburn made sure to defend Biden when reporters came up to him at the fish fry. Biden was a good man, period. But he did not endorse him, following his tradition of not announcing a favorite in the primary race.
When Clyburn returned home that night, he gave a rundown to his wife of 60 years, Emily, who was nearing the end of a decades long struggle with diabetes. He noted the crowd roared for Joe Biden.
Emily, a librarian, was an astute political observer, Clyburn’s eyes and ears. When they attended church together, she brought a notebook and recorded how others reacted to her husband. She liked to give him a readout.
“If we really want to win,” and beat Trump, “our best candidate would be Joe Biden,” Emily Clyburn told him that night, her voice soft.
“You’re probably right about that,” Clyburn told her. “But that would be for the general. The problem is getting him out of the primary.”
A week later in Miami, Mayor Buttigieg spotted Biden, his head down, touch the rosary beads on his wrist before stepping onstage at the first Democratic presidential primary debate.
Biden turned and told Buttigieg that they were Beau’s.
Biden seemed to be in all the candidates’ sights. It was a rough outing. The hardest hit came from Senator Harris, who tore into Biden’s long-ago opposition to school busing.
“So on the issue of race,” Harris said, “I couldn’t agree more that this is an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully and honestly.”
She paused and looked to her right. “I’m going to now direct this at Vice President Biden. I do not believe you are a racist. And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.
“But it was hurtful,” she said, “to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing.
“And, you know,” she said, her voice filling with emotion, “there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”
Harris left a mark.
Members of Biden’s family were surprised and indignant. Senator Harris, the former California attorney general, had been close with Beau when he was Delaware’s AG.
How could she?
By the next week, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Harris jumping up, landing in a virtual tie with Biden for the lead in the race, with Biden at 22 percent and Harris at 20 percent among Democratic voters.