Biden Woos Black Voters in Southern State That Was 2020 Key

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden cited Black economic advances under his administration during a stop in South Carolina, appealing to the state’s Black voters ahead of a primary that will test his ability to mend ties with a crucial part of his electoral coalition.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Traders Line Up for ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Emerging Markets Bet

• Blackstone Is Building a $25 Billion Empire of Power-Hungry Data Centers

• Trump Cash Stockpile at Risk From $450 Million Dual Verdicts

• Evergrande Set for Liquidation as China Property Crisis Drags On

• Amazon Drops iRobot Deal; Roomba Maker Cuts 31% of Staff

Biden also pointed to his appointment of the first Black woman Supreme Court justice and measures to forgive student debt during a return Saturday to a state that was critical to lifting him to the presidency four years ago.

“I wouldn’t be here without the voters of South Carolina, and that’s a fact,” he said at a dinner hosted by state Democratic Party officials. “You’re the reason Donald Trump is a loser. And you’re the reason we’re going to win and beat him again.”

Biden doesn’t face a serious threat in the Feb. 3 primary, where his only rivals on the ballot are Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota and self-help author Marianne Williamson. But South Carolina’s vote will be closely watched as a gauge of his support among Black voters, who helped propel him to victory in 2020 and whose frustrations with his administration he will need to address to bolster his reelection chances.

Black voters have expressed unease with the administration’s progress on issues including student debt relief, police reforms and voting rights, coupled with broader concern among Democrats over the 81-year-old president’s age and his handling of the economy.

Polls show Biden in a tight race with former President Donald Trump, who is close to clinching the Republican nomination and setting up a November general election rematch. While Trump won just 12% of the Black vote nationwide in 2020, that was up from 8% in his first White House run in 2016, according to exit polls. And the former president’s campaign aims to target Black voters with the hopes of chipping away at Biden’s coalition to gain an edge in key swing states.

Biden on Saturday touted signs of US economic strength under his administration, including a “manufacturing boom,” bringing jobs back to the US and “the lowest levels of black unemployment ever recorded in American history.”

His campaign has acknowledged that it needs to reach out to Black voters.

“It’s not possible for a Democrat to be elected president of the United States without winning the African American vote,” Biden deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters earlier this month after a Biden visit to South Carolina.

On that trip, Biden delivered an emotional speech at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, a historic Black church where a white supremacist gunman killed nine people in 2015.

Vice President Kamala Harris has visited the state twice this month. First lady Jill Biden, a teacher by profession, traveled to West Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday to address a group of educators.

“It means to me that they’re taking South Carolina seriously,” South Carolina Democratic Chair Christale Spain said in an interview.

Another challenge for Democratic strategists is to mobilize young Americans.

“You’re going to have a lot of progressive leaders like me go out and make the case to young voters, to progressives, to independents, that they’ve got to rally around the president,” Representative Ro Khanna told reporters on the sidelines of Saturday’s event.

Ad Blitz

The Democratic National Committee on Friday announced a fresh advertising blitz ahead of the votes in South Carolina on Feb. 3 and Nevada on Feb. 6, noting a six-figure investment in each state and specifically targeting Black, rural and youth voters for the South Carolina pitches.

The DNC has reserved more than $525,000 in advertising in South Carolina and Nevada, mostly in digital ads but also on radio stations targeting Black and Hispanic audiences, according to data from ad tracking firm AdImpact. Nevada, which has a Democratic primary election Feb. 6, will also be a key swing state in the general election. While South Carolina is not as competitive in general elections, some of its markets also reach the battlegrounds of North Carolina and Georgia.

Biden has long credited South Carolina with fueling his 2020 bid to the White House and sought to reward it by moving it to the top of the Democratic calendar, a decision that gives Black voters added influence in the nominating process.

That move rankled New Hampshire, where Biden declined to campaign in the primary earlier this week but still easily defeated Phillips as a write-in candidate.

Biden “recognizes that South Carolina voters matter. Black voters matter. And Southern voters matter,” Spain and South Carolina Democrats Executive Director Jay Parmley said in a statement. “We are grateful to him for honoring his commitment to our state and to our party by coming back to the place that started his road to the White House.”

Biden has a particularly close relationship with Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, whose endorsement in 2020 helped turn around a flailing campaign. He was Biden’s introductory speaker on Saturday.

--With assistance from Gregory Korte and Akayla Gardner.

(Updates with state Democratic leader’s comment in 12th paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• There’s So Much Data Even Spies Are Struggling to Find Secrets

• Basketball, Basketball, Basketball: Inside Steve Ballmer’s New $2 Billion Arena

• How a Lucky Break Fueled Eli Lilly’s $600 Billion Weight-Loss Empire

• AI Needs So Much Power That Old Coal Plants Are Sticking Around

• How the West’s Favorite Autocrat Engineered Africa’s Most Dramatic Turnaround

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.