‘Let’s do it again’: VP Harris files primary paperwork for Biden-Harris campaign
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - Vice President Kamala Harris officially filed paperwork for the South Carolina primary Friday morning.
Joined by Rep. James Clyburn, Harris reflected on South Carolina’s role in 2020 when it pushed Joe Biden to the front of a crowded Democratic primary race.
“South Carolina, who understood and believed in the promise of America and the importance of optimism, fueled by a sense of hope and understanding of what is possible, then fought for our democracy and for the right of all people to participate,” Harris said inside the South Carolina Democratic Headquarters.
Clyburn serves as the co-chair of the campaign.
Harris called South Carolina’s lone Congressional Democrat one of the administration’s closest advisors.
The filing was originally just Clyburn but Thursday night Harris took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to ask if Clyburn had “room for one more.”
“South Carolina Democrats are the backbone of the Democratic Party,” Harris said on X.
Clyburn thanked South Carolina’s Democrats for laying the foundation for Biden and Harris to become nominees for the party.
“And so thank you so much for all that you do for this party and for this country, “ Clyburn said. “All that you did to make Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the nominees of this party and all that you did to lay the foundation for them to become the leaders of the free world.”
Clyburn also took a dig at Harris’s alma mater, Howard University, which lost to Clyburn’s alma mater South Carolina State in football 27-24 Saturday.
“I’m glad she did not come at this time last week because the Bulldogs showed the Bison a little thing or two last Saturday,” Clyburn said.
“It started here in South Carolina. The work that we have accomplished that will benefit people whom we may never meet people who may never know any of our names,” Harris said. “So much of it can be attributed to the fight, to the community and to the perseverance of the people in this room and in this state. So I’m here to say thank you. I am here to say let’s do it again. We will do it 2024 There is so much at stake.”
Harris said the administration had momentum saying voters should let them continue their work.
“We understand that our democracy will only be as strong is our individual willingness to fight for it,” Harris said. “And so fight we will and when we fight we win.”
South Carolina will be the first state to hold its primary after a Democratic calendar shake-up in February when it replaced Iowa.
The party sees the change as a way to empower Black and other minority voters critical to its support base.
South Carolina will now hold its primary on Feb. 3, 2024. Nevada and New Hampshire would follow on Feb. 6 and Georgia would hold theirs one week later on Feb. 13. Michigan’s primary would then be fifth on Feb. 27.
Speaker and author Marianne Williamson became the first Democrat to file for the primary Monday.
Williamson told reporters Monday afternoon she believes Americans are living in “a time of real trouble” and considers her campaign a “real alternative” to the agenda of both the Republican Party and to the Democratic Party as well.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) also filed to challenge President Joe Biden’s reelection bid on Wednesday.
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