Report: Clyburn to endorse Clinton

by Harper Neidig - 02/18/16 6:44 PM ET

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is planning to endorse Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, according to a BuzzFeed report.

The report cites two unnamed sources, one in the Clinton campaign and another Democrat.

{mosads}The endorsement is a big win for Clinton just over a week before the party’s Feb. 27 primary in South Carolina.

Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader, originally intended to remain neutral in the race, as he did through most of the 2008 primary before endorsing then-Sen. Barack Obama. But last week, he told reporters his family pressured him into backing a candidate and that he planned to announce his endorsement this week.

“They said you need to make a stand,” Clyburn said of his family last week. “They said whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it.”

He also praised the former secretary of State in an interview with CNN last weekend but gave no signs of whom he intended to back.

“Like Sen. [Bernie] Sanders, she has a great record to lay out before the American people,” Clyburn said in the interview. “And so we’re going to be discussing all of that this weekend with family and friends. And we’re going to be guided by the advice I get from them.”

In addition to his ties to an early-voting state, Clyburn’s backing also carries weight in the battle between Sanders and Clinton for the support of black voters, who could be a decisive voting bloc in the primary.

Tags Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton James Clyburn South Carolina