Rep. James Clyburn holds press conference as early voting begins in South Carolina primary

[0:00] Let me begin by thanking all of you for being here today, and mostly especially my friends [0:08] from the faith community, Democratic Party community, constituents, and the mayor. [0:15] Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your friendship over the years, and thank you for the stewardship [0:20] that you've given to this community, much of which I grew up in. [0:26] And few people know that when I was a kid, my father pastored at a little church of God [0:37] around the corner on Treadwell, and I used to come to Orangeburg every second and fourth [0:47] Sunday. [0:50] And I was joking with someone the other day that the trip here from Sumter was across what [0:58] was then, as kids, we used to call it the Santee River. [1:03] We were not aware that the river had been diverted to create Lake Marion. [1:10] But the bridge across Lake Marion at that time was made of cross tiles, the same kind of cross [1:18] tiles you see on the railroad. [1:20] And my mother hated going across that bridge. [1:27] So my brothers and I accompanied my dad here every second and fourth Sunday to keep him [1:37] company as we came here to Orangeburg. [1:41] And so the other day, about a month ago, I was there with the governor to break ground on [1:55] what will be, in my lifetime, the fourth bridge across Lake Marion. [2:04] This is going to be a $470 million bridge. [2:10] The bridge is going to be, to make the travel from Miami all the way up to Maine. [2:24] Interstate 95 runs from Miami to Maine. [2:29] And the halfway point between Miami and New York is the little town of St. T, right there [2:41] at exit 98. [2:44] And that bridge will make for good travel, for interstate travelers, going from Florida [2:56] to Maine. [2:58] But when the governor called me and asked me to sit down with the highway department so [3:07] that they could give me the background on that bridge and what the state wanted to do, [3:17] he had received $175 million in state funds. [3:22] And at the time, the projection was that bridge would cost $350 million. [3:30] And he needed another $175 million from the federal government. [3:39] Well, I told him of my relationship with that bridge and that I would be glad to sit down [3:47] and talk with his highway department. [3:51] When I sat down and talked with them and they showed me their rendition of the bridge, I said [3:58] to them, I'll be glad to work with getting the federal dollars necessary to get this bridge [4:08] done. [4:09] However, I would be much more excited about it if you were to make a modification to this [4:16] bridge. [4:16] And they asked what modification I wanted. [4:22] Now, many of you may remember, I know that Councilman Ravenel remembers, that the little [4:30] town of Summerton had just lost its entire water system. [4:37] They had no water. [4:39] They had to revert to wells, unsafe drinking water for their schools and for their households. [4:50] Sitting across Lake Marin is the Lake Marin Regional Water Agency producing water for the [5:01] new Volvo plant, water for Fort Mott in Calhoun, over in Dorchester County, producing water for [5:11] all of these places. [5:13] Yet, the little town of Summerton, just a few miles away, had no water. [5:19] So, I said to them, if you go back and redesign this bridge, so this bridge can hold water pipes, [5:29] so that we can get water pipes running from the Lake Marin Regional Water Agency over in the [5:38] Clarendon County, all the way to Summerton, so that we would not just have convenience and travel for [5:44] people to get from Miami to New York, but that we could carry safe drinking water across Lake Marin [5:53] in the Clarendon and Summerton counties. [5:57] They went back and they redesigned the bridge. [5:59] And they came back to me and says, to do this will cost another $30 million. [6:06] And I said to them, how much do you have now? [6:09] And they got the message. [6:14] And they came back with a new bridge. [6:18] Because I don't mind travel being convenient for total strains to get from one place to the other. [6:27] But if we can do what is necessary to get safe drinking water for our children in the schools, [6:37] safe drinking water for our communities, and to create the opportunity for economic development, [6:48] because now that part of Clarendon County will have water. [6:55] Now, I say that to say this. [7:01] This morning, I was watching news reports, and there was a report of a new book written by Ben Rhodes, [7:14] who was a speechwriter for Barack Obama. [7:17] The book is about 15 speeches that he has turned into a book. [7:25] These are speeches that he says defines America. [7:30] And one of the speeches was being delivered by Ronald Reagan. [7:37] And the interesting thing about the speech is he used for the subtext of his speech [7:45] something that was written by Alexis de Tocqueville way back in the 1830s. [7:53] And many of you have heard me quote this author. [7:55] De Tocqueville, in his book, Democracy in America, wrote, and some people say it's not quite true. [8:08] I don't know. [8:09] I was not there in 1835, but some people seem to think I was. [8:15] De Tocqueville wrote that America is great because its people are good. [8:28] And if the people of America ever cease to be good, America will cease to be great. [8:35] That's what we have been seeing in the last several weeks and months, a challenge to the goodness of America. [8:48] As I stand here, our state Senate is debating whether or not to recreate this congressional district [9:02] in order to fulfill orders from the White House to say to the 29% of African Americans in South Carolina, [9:20] the 43% of Democratic voters in South Carolina, irrespective of your presence, [9:32] you are not deserving of a single member of Congress of the seven that we have. [9:39] 27% of the population should have 0% of the vote. [9:48] 43% of the voters should have 0 representation. [9:54] That is a challenge to the goodness of South Carolinians. [9:59] And nothing has made me more incensed than to see this kind of imposition on the people of South Carolina. [10:11] The people who drew that map don't live in South Carolina. [10:18] The people who drew that map, some of them may not have ever set foot in South Carolina. [10:26] But those of us who sit there, Jerry Govan, sit on the floor of the House, [10:31] working with others, Democrats and Republicans, every day, [10:34] the last time we drew the map for this district, it took two years. [10:42] People had meetings all over the state, people sitting down with each other. [10:46] And we came out of that process with a map that yields six Republicans and only one Democrat, [10:58] six whites, one black, and none of us, none of us did anything but make the adjustment [11:10] because we've been through a process. [11:13] And when you go through a process and it does not yield what you may wish, [11:19] you make the adjustment and move on and hope that the next time the process will yield better results for you. [11:30] That's what we did. [11:32] And when the map was challenged, the United States Supreme Court two years ago said, [11:38] this is constitutional. [11:40] No, it doesn't do what all the Democrats want. [11:43] And that doesn't do what all the black community wants. [11:48] But the process was constitutional. [11:52] This White House says to hell with the process, to hell with the Constitution. [12:00] Just do what we want done. [12:04] And that's what has us here today. [12:07] It makes no sense. [12:09] And South Carolinians should reject this. [12:14] I'm very proud of this state. [12:17] I've lived every moment of my life in this state. [12:19] My parents' roots go back to the ships. [12:25] They came into Charleston, and their family ended up on my father's side in Kershaw County, [12:30] my mother's side in Lee County. [12:32] I was born and raised in Sumter County. [12:35] I came to college here in Arnsbruck County. [12:39] On my way to Charleston to T-School, I stopped by Berkley County, Monkscone, and picked up a wife. [12:43] So I know the state, and I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington [12:59] to tell them what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. [13:07] They ought to be embarrassed in that process as well. [13:11] So I want to thank you. [13:12] So I want to thank the Republican leader of the Senate. [13:17] I just read another communique from the Republican senator from Buford, Senator Davis, [13:27] for standing up for South Carolina and resisting the partisan acrimony that is taking place in Washington. [13:38] And I'd be glad to answer the question that you may have. [13:41] Gene Zaleski, Jackson Democrat. [13:44] The Senate is going to be voting today, third reading on the redistricting. [13:47] If the maps do pass, will you consider running for another district, District 2, or another district? [13:56] I don't know. [13:56] What are your options should the maps pass? [13:59] My options are very limited to where I vote. [14:03] I vote here in Arnsbruck County. [14:07] I live in Sanity for the most part, the majority of the time. [14:13] I will vote, and I will run where I live. [14:23] I have no idea what they're going to approve. [14:25] I have no idea. [14:26] All I'm saying is this. [14:28] I am going to run where I live. [14:32] So whatever number they put on it, that's where I'm going to run. [14:35] The maps and that process, what standards do you think should determine whether a congressional map is fair? [14:50] Well, the Constitution, the United States Supreme Court laid that out years ago. [14:55] You know, this is May. [14:58] Come July 21st, I'm going to celebrate the 47th anniversary of my 39th birthday. [15:04] For those of you whose math is as bad as mine, that will make me 86 years old. [15:14] I've lived every one of those here in South Carolina. [15:18] And the Supreme Court laid out years ago. [15:20] Now, you may know, I just finished writing a book, or not just finished, it was published last November. [15:27] And the book was about the kind of politics we had in South Carolina when the first eight African Americans were kicked out of Congress. [15:38] Because maps were drawn that did not meet certain tests. [15:47] So the Supreme Court laid out some tests. [15:52] And number one among them is to preserve communities of interest. [15:58] That's number one. [15:59] So the fairness of a map is dictated by whether or not it preserves communities of interest. [16:10] Now, I want somebody to tell me, what is the similarities in Clemson, South Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina? [16:22] This map that they have drawn has got Clemson, Clemson University, in the same congressional district as the University of South Carolina. [16:38] Where is the community of interest? [16:39] It ain't there. [16:43] It just ain't there. [16:44] How do you get a congressional district to go from Oconee County to Richland County and say it's constitutional? [16:52] This is probably the most egregious map I've seen since the 1890s. [16:59] And it was in 1890 that they drew the so-called shoestring district that ran from Buford all the way up to Sumter and put all the black folks in one district and left. [17:14] We had seven then. [17:17] And it was six to one, black to white then. [17:22] We had grown from that. [17:23] But we got some people sitting up in Washington that would love to see the country get back to that. [17:32] So that's number one, preserve communities of interest. [17:35] And number two, they must be contiguous. [17:38] And in order to make that contiguous, you've got to come all the way down, I-26, take 85 over the 26, 26 all the way down to 77 and 95 in order for it to be contiguous. [17:54] That's foolishness. [17:56] And that's what they've done. [17:59] And to have so many people in the state senate and the house voting for that is just egregious. [18:08] Do you feel positive? [18:11] I'm sorry? [18:18] No, it doesn't feel any different to me because it's been my practice to always vote as soon as the polls open for early voting. [18:26] So this is not my first time being here to vote as soon as the polls open. [18:30] I've done that every election day, except for two years ago, I went over to Vance. [18:35] Because I had planned to spend the rest of the day, in order to make my tea time, I had to go to Vance rather than come in here. [18:44] So I voted over in Vance the last time. [18:47] Today, I've always voted here. [18:50] But we used to vote right in here before y'all kicked us out. [18:54] So it feels natural to me. [18:59] If your thing does pass, what are your plans to reach the voters? [19:04] To reach the voters? [19:05] In the new visitor. [19:07] I don't have to. [19:08] The way I see it, the new 6th District, if I'm in that district, I will go back to the counties that I've represented for 20 years. [19:21] I used to represent all of Florence. [19:23] And now I only have Lake City. [19:25] I used to represent all of Marion County. [19:29] Darlington. [19:32] There was one other county over there. [19:34] Oh, Lee. [19:36] I represented that before. [19:37] And now this new district will, if I'm in the 6th, Kershaw County will be in it. [19:46] Lancaster County will be in it. [19:48] In all those almost 86 years, I have never met a Clyburn, black or white, that did not come from Kershaw and Lancaster counties. [19:58] And so I got a lot of relatives over there, some that claim me, others don't. [20:07] But I would not be running in any place strange. [20:11] If I run in what would be the 2nd, it would be Orangeburg, Richland, all the way down to Bamberg, Allendale, Hampton, Calhoun, the same counties I represent now. [20:29] Now what they did with it, they went through to try to get more Republican precincts out of the counties to make it a Trump plus 15. [20:43] The 6th would be a Trump plus 11. [20:46] I don't care if it's Trump plus 20. [20:48] I would be running where I live. [20:51] A couple quicks. [21:00] What do you believe outside your district misunderstand about why District 6 was drawn in the first place? [21:07] And have you spoken to the governor about this redistricting conversation? [21:11] If so, what has that conversation been like? [21:13] No, I'm not discussing that with the governor. [21:15] I was here in Orangeburg with the governor, what, last Monday, where we were announcing the new plant here. [21:27] This candy plant that's going to be here. [21:29] I don't want you all to get sweet teeth, but it's going to hire 1,000 people. [21:38] And the governor and I spoke. [21:40] We did not talk about this. [21:42] It's kind of interesting. [21:42] When we had the groundbreaking for the bridge, the governor didn't talk much about the $175 million that we were able to convince the Biden administration to let us have for that bridge. [21:57] But he did talk about the $45 million that he came to my office and requested my help in getting to set up Nexus, South Carolina. [22:08] And he told the group on the day that we had the groundbreaking of how critical my assistance was to get in Nexus, South Carolina. [22:16] But last Monday, when we were announcing the candy plant, I don't know, I know you were there, the mayor was there. [22:24] I don't know if you all remember what the governor said. [22:27] He says that when we were recruiting this company, they had a lot of questions that we could answer. [22:36] But then they had some more questions, and we called on the big gun to answer those questions. [22:49] And it's kind of interesting. [22:50] When the CEO of the plant went to the mic, he turned and said to the audience that he remembered the conversation that he had with me to close the deal. [23:01] Because I was in the airport in Washington, D.C., trying to get home, and stayed on the phone with him a little bit too long. [23:09] And he apologized for making me almost miss my plane. [23:15] But it was yours truly that had the conversation with this company to close the deal. [23:24] And I just finished eating one of the mint balls this morning at Brockville. [23:29] They gave me a pocket full of them. [23:31] But the point I'm making here is I've never had any problems working across the aisle to get things done. [23:40] But I do have a problem with people telling me zeroing Democratic voters, zeroing African-American voters out of the process. [23:55] That's a problem. [23:57] We're here, and we aren't going anywhere. [24:01] And we ought not lose the goodness that's made this country so great. [24:07] Just remember those words of Alexis de Tocqueville, if America ever ceased to be good, America will cease to be great. [24:18] The greatness of this country relies upon us maintaining our goodnesses one to the other. [24:24] And that's the problem we have here today. [24:27] The meanness that exists in Washington among so many people. [24:31] And it's all reported today, my goodness. [24:34] These new ICE reports out this morning. [24:36] How do you will not allow the governor of a state to visit a facility that you run in her state? [24:48] Because these people are busy being mean to people and being cruel. [24:59] And that's a problem for us. [25:00] Okay. [25:05] I'm sorry? [25:06] Sorry. [25:07] South Carolina Public Radio. [25:09] When it comes to elected officials, either at the statewide or local level, what role do you think they should play in informing their constituents about potential changes with redistricting in the primary? [25:19] And do you think that standard has been met? [25:22] Yes, I do. [25:23] I do think the standard has been met. [25:24] And the proof of it is to go up here and see the minds of the people who have been informed as to what's going on and what they can do to help shield their communities from these bad decisions. [25:42] And the first one is to challenge the process. [25:48] Are you going to throw our votes out? [25:50] You told us the voting will start at 8.30 on the morning of the 26th. [25:56] They showed up 8.30 on the morning of the 26th. [26:02] So are you going to take another step that says, I know what I told you, but we're going to throw all those votes out and start over? [26:11] So they're doing what they're supposed to do. [26:15] Well, thank you all so much. [26:16] They're on the way. [26:28] They're on the right team. [26:29] They're on the right team. [26:32] I got water. [26:34] I got water. [26:36] I got you. [26:40] I got you. [26:41] Because New York Times did come to ask you a question. [26:43] She was a man. [26:44] Good. [26:44] She's great. [26:45] She's great. [26:45] She's great. [26:50] Good. [26:51] Man. [26:52] Good job. [26:53] So are you sitting there? [26:54] Yeah. [26:55] I'm going to. [26:55] I'm going to get around. [26:55] I'm going to. [27:01] How you doing, man? [27:02] You doing all right? [27:02] I'm OK. [27:03] Doing well over there? [27:04] I was in Charleston. [27:05] Don't know you that don't want to sit in the school. [27:07] Thank you. [27:09] I'm going to kind of get a clean. [27:11] Helpful, resourceful. [27:12] Yeah. [27:13] Yeah. [27:13] Yeah. [27:13] Yeah. [27:13] Yeah.