AP Photo/Evan Vucci
- Rep. Jim Clyburn said President Joe Biden's reelection pitch wasn't getting through the "MAGA wall."
- While on CNN, Clyburn also said he was "very concerned" about Black turnout for Biden in November.
- Clyburn's 2020 endorsement of Biden was critical in the ex-VP's win in the S.C. primary that year.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of President Joe Biden's staunchest political allies on Capitol Hill, said on Sunday that he was concerned that the president's message isn't getting through the "MAGA wall" ahead of a potential rematch with former President Donald Trump.
Clyburn, a veteran South Carolina Democrat and one of the most respected Black lawmakers on the Hill, said during his appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" that Biden's accomplishments were simply not reaching a broad swath of voters.
"I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done," he said. "My problem is that we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done."
Clyburn, a former House majority whip, then turned to student loan debt relief, an issue that has animated young voters and has led to some political disillusionment after the US Supreme Court last year struck down a forgiveness plan that the administration had crafted.
While on CNN, Clyburn defended Biden's actions on the issue.
"If you took the little simple thing as student loan debt relief, he promised to relieve student loan debt, and he has done that," he said. "But one part of his promise he was not able to keep because 6 Republican attorneys general and the United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, stopped him from doing so."
"But he sought another way, and he has forgiven $132 billion to 3.4 million people in student loan debt," he continued. "But nobody writes about that. I'm still hearing from people as recent as yesterday that he did not keep his promise on student loan debt relief. And he has."
When Clyburn threw his support behind Biden's presidential bid in 2020, it upended the trajectory of the Democratic primary that year, as the former vice president had performed poorly in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
But in South Carolina, where Black voters make up well over a majority of the Democratic primary electorate, Biden's candidacy soared after Clyburn's influential backing.
Biden's landslide primary win in South Carolina led to his victories in a swath of Super Tuesday states, which paved the way for his nomination over Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who at the time was his chief rival in the Democratic contest.
When Clyburn was asked about Biden's support among Black voters, which the president will need a big way to win reelection, the South Carolinian said that while he wasn't "worried" about turnout he remained "very concerned" over its impact.
Clyburn pointed to Biden's record of appointing Black female judges to federal courts across the country, as well as the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, as issues that would be a part of the president's 2024 message.