Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is urging Black elders to tell young Black voters to cast their ballots for President Biden in November.
Clyburn, the Biden campaign’s 2024 co-chair, told NOTUS that older Black Americans “should try and talk some sense into their children.”
Clyburn’s comments come as polls show Biden struggling with younger Black voters and as a growing number of Black men indicate they may support former President Trump come November.
Young Black voters are specifically disappointed in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, concerns over the economy, criminal justice reform and voting rights are also all top-of-mind concerns for Black voters more broadly.
But Clyburn appeared shocked by the notion that any Black voter would support Trump, who recently claimed that he has done more for Black people than anyone except possibly President Lincoln.
“If you believe that, your parents should’ve sent their mule to school and kept you at home,” said Clyburn.
He added that if Black voters do throw their support behind Trump in November, the former president will undoubtedly win.
“We may be back into Jim Crow again,” he said.
Clyburn said young voters may be enamored with Trump in part because older Black Americans have not spoken about what they endured before and during the Civil Rights Movement.
“I know what I had to go through, I know what I saw my parents going through,” he said. He added that “the indignities that my mother and my father had to endure so I could be where I’m at today” need to be shared with the younger generation.
“If I see and hear from a candidate that they want to bring those indignities back to the process, I’ve got an obligation to sit with these children of mine and say, ‘What the hell are you thinking about?’” Clyburn said.
Clyburn added that he is committed to fighting for Biden’s reelection.
“I’m going to do everything I can to try and compete and win,” he said. “We may not be able to. My parents could not.”
The Trump campaign in response said it was making inroads with Black voters because of former President Trump’s record and dissatisfaction with the Biden presidency.
“Rep. Clyburn knows that President Trump is up to 23% in the polls with Black voters, a record high that we haven’t seen in decades,” said Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign.
“The reason is clear: Black voters know that our lives were exponentially better under President Trump – we were richer with Trump, we were safer with Trump, we were more confident with Trump,” Thomas said. “Today, Black voters are frustrated with the Biden administration prioritizing illegal immigrants over our own interests and Joe’s disastrous policies that have done nothing for our community besides drive up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent while making it nearly impossible to buy a new home, start a new business, or save money for the future.
“Team Trump’s outreach to minority communities is a stark contrast to Joe Biden’s failing campaign whose only tactic is to gaslight Black voters with desperate ads and pandering speeches that fail to address Biden’s terrible policies,” Thomas concluded in a statement.
This story was updated at 7:52 p.m.