The White House is disputing the idea that President Biden’s push to give South Carolina a higher place on the 2024 election calendar is a way to reward the state for supporting his campaign in 2020.
Instead, the White House claims the change is a way to encourage diverse viewpoints in early Democratic primaries, The Hill reported.
But it’s also being viewed as a strategy for Biden to win should he decide to run for reelection, since the Palmetto State is primarily recognized for turning things around for Biden when his previous presidential campaign seemed to be all but finished.
That claim has been refuted by the White House, which has defended Biden’s lobbying efforts to have South Carolina become the first state to conduct a primary, ahead of New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, and Nevada.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rejected the notion that the action was taken to reward South Carolina for Biden’s victory there.
Biden was able to garner the support of Black voters, a group that was crucial to his eventual success, thanks to a crucial endorsement in 2020 from South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat.
Although Speaker Pelosi of California and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland decided to stand down after years at the top to allow a new generation of Democrats to run the party in the House, Clyburn is notably continuing in a leadership role throughout the upcoming Congress.
Clyburn’s close friend and former staffer Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, said that Biden’s efforts to promote South Carolina went beyond Clyburn’s endorsement.
However, the modification to make South Carolina the first state to cast a vote in a Democratic primary still raises concerns about whether Biden’s actions are a means to appease Clyburn.
This week, the South Carolina Democrat himself told CNN that the president’s decision to alter the primary schedule left him “stunned” and “a little astonished.”
New Hampshire politicians, whose state hosts the nation’s first primary, were similarly taken aback by the news.
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