Joe Biden doesn't need to worry about his prospects in South Carolina's Democratic primary next week. He's got that locked up.
He also knows he's not likely to win the solidly red state come November. It hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976.
He's spending this weekend in the state nonetheless, intent on driving home two messages: He's loyal to the state that saved his campaign in 2020 and he's determined to win back Black voters here and elsewhere who were central to his election last time but are less enthused this go-round.
Biden will be the keynote speaker Saturday night at the state party's fundraising dinner ahead of its first ever "first-in-the-nation" Democratic primary on Feb. 3. He'll stick around to attend a political event at St. John Baptist Church on Sunday, in a state where politics and faith are intertwined.
Deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said of the primary that Biden's team was working to "blow this out of the water" by running up the score against longshot challengers. The Biden campaign also wants to learn lessons about activating Black voters — the backbone of the party — ahead of an expected 2024 rematch with GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
Ahead of the dinner, Biden stopped into Regal Lounge Men's Barber and Spa in Columbia, greeting owners, employees, and customers mid-haircut at the barbershop.
The president has been getting mixed reviews from some Black voters in the state that came through for him in 2020, including discontent over his failure to deliver on voting rights legislation and other issues.
Last year, at the outset of Biden's reelection bid, conflicting views among the same South Carolina Democratic voters whose support had been so crucial to his nomination provided an early warning sign of the challenges he faces as he tries to revive his diverse winning coalition from 2020.
Overall, just 50% of Black adults said they approved of Biden in a December poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. That is compared with 86% in July 2021, a shift that is generating concern about the president's reelection prospects.
APVoteCast, an extensive national survey of the electorate, also found that support for Republican candidates ticked up slightly among Black voters during the 2022 midterm elections, although Black voters overwhelmingly supported Democrats.
The Biden campaign is running TV ads in South Carolina highlighting Biden initiatives that it hopes will boost enthusiasm among Black voters.
"On his first day in office with a country in crisis, President Biden got to work — for us," the ad states. "Cutting Black child poverty in half, more money for Black entrepreneurs, millions of new good-paying jobs, and he lowered the cost of prescription drugs."
The campaign is spending more than $270,000 on the ads through the primary, according to tracking data. The Democratic National Committee also launched a six-figure ad campaign across South Carolina and Nevada, which is next on Democratic primary calendar, to boost enthusiasm for Biden among Black and Latino voters. And first lady Jill Biden was in the state on Friday evening to rally voters.
Biden's campaign has also hired staff in South Carolina to organize ahead of the primary and through the general election, although for nearly 50 years the state has picked a Republican for president.
Meanwhile, a pro-Biden super PAC, Unite the Country, is airing an ad featuring Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., ticking through what he says are major Biden accomplishments such as reducing student loan debt and cutting insulin costs for older people.
It was Clyburn's 2020 endorsement of his longtime friend Biden that helped the then-candidate score a win in South Carolina's presidential primary,
In the new ad, Clyburn references his late wife, Emily, who influenced his 2020 endorsement of Biden. She said "that if we wanted to win the presidency, we better nominate Joe Biden," Clyburn says in the ad. "She was right then, and she's still right today."
While Trump has seen slightly improving levels of support among Black and Latino voters, Biden's team is more concerned that a lack of enthusiasm for Biden will depress turnout among voters who are pivotal to the Democratic coalition.
Biden's team is using South Carolina as a proving ground, tracking what messages and platforms break through with voters.
South Carolina, where Black voters make up a majority of the Democratic electorate, is now the first meaningful contest in the Democratic presidential race after the party reworked the party's nominating calendar at Biden's call. Leading off with Iowa and New Hampshire had long drawn criticism because the states are less diverse than the rest of the country.
Moving up the South Carolina vote was also a political payback to the state and Clyburn for their role in sending Biden to the White House.
A co-chairman of Biden's reelection campaign, Clyburn has remained one of the president's most stalwart advocates in Congress, as well as in his home state. Frequently, he reminds people of the same message he delivered in his 2020 endorsement: "We know Joe, and Joe knows us."
Biden's decision to campaign in the state "helps solidify South Carolina's place as the first-in-the-nation primary moving forward," said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler.
It also provides Biden an opportunity to reengage with Black voters who have connections that extend well beyond South Carolina.
"Obviously, the diaspora is strong; familial ties are strong with other key swing states in the area like Georgia and North Carolina," Tyler said.
This is Biden's second trip to South Carolina this month. He spoke earlier in the month at the pulpit of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where nine Black parishioners were shot to death in 2015 by a white stranger they had invited to join their Bible study. In his speech, Biden denounced the "poison" of white supremacy in the U.S. and said such ideology has no place in America, "not today, tomorrow or ever."
It was meant as a direct contrast with Trump, whom Biden accused of "glorifying" rather than condemning political violence.
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