South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn (D), often called the “kingmaker” of the South, traveled north politically to endorse former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York City.
The city’s Democrat primary is this Tuesday.
Clyburn, who is often credited with securing the nomination of Joe Biden in the 2020 Democrat presidential primaries, said in a statement, according to Daily Caller:
I am proud to join the endorsers of Andrew Cuomo for Mayor of New York City. I’ve known Andrew Cuomo since his days as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration. We worked together on housing and urban development issues, fighting for the underserved, most especially communities of color. As Governor of New York, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to make real progress and get lasting results.
The former governor, aiming for a political comeback after resigning in 2021 during a sexual harassment scandal, responded to Clyburn with gratitude, saying he was “honored and humbled.”
“(Representative Clyburn) has always been on the right side of history,” Cuomo wrote, “And he has spent a lifetime prioritizing making real change over headlines, of action over words, and results over performative politics.”
History, detractors argue, may offer a different interpretation of the Biden presidency – a term characterized by inflation, massive illegal immigration, and the former president’s cognitive decline, all of which helped set up a decisive return of Donald J. Trump to the presidency.
But in 2020, with the former vice president struggling in two previous Democratic primaries, it was Clyburn’s full-throated endorsement that played a key role in Biden winning South Carolina’s pivotal contest and later the Democrat presidential nomination.
As if defending that 2020 endorsement, Clyburn stated in a post on X in January that history would judge the former president “kindly.”
Clyburn appears to be thinking beyond New York in his backing of Cuomo, evoking the party’s favorite talking points of “democracy” and the alleged threat posed to it by President Trump.
“The mayor of New York is uniquely positioned to play an important role in the future of the National Democratic Party,” Clyburn wrote. “Our party faces significant challenges dealing with the Trump administration that seems to be challenging the pillars of our democracy. The mayor of New York will need to meet that challenge and defend the city’s autonomy.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel formerly covered politics for the Detroit News. He is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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