Staff reports | President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and national Democratic leaders start descending on the Palmetto State this weekend in a kickoff of the political run up to South Carolina’s first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 3.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates have been mostly absent from South Carolina in recent days as they flood into Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada – states where GOP voters make primary or caucus decisions before the state’s first-in-the-South primary on Feb. 24.
On Saturday, Harris will speak to a church group in Myrtle Beach while Biden will make remarks Monday at Emanuel AME Church Monday. Harris then will visit Columbia Jan. 15 during King Day at the Dome celebrations.
On Monday, the president will be in Charleston to speak at the historic church in the latest signal of a campaign eager to shore up standing with Black voters. The visit is Biden’s first trip to the church since his vice presidency under former President Barack Obama. It is one of the oldest Black churches in the South and is the site where nine churchgoers were shot and killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof in 2015.
“Whether it is white supremacists descending on the historic American city of Charlottesville, the assault on our nation’s capital on January 6 or a white supremacist murdering churchgoers at Mother Emanuel nearly nine years ago, America is worried about the rise in political violence and determined to stand against it,” Biden-Harris 2024 Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks said in a statement. “The president’s return to the Palmetto State marks the fourth time as president to talk directly to voters who propelled him to the highest office in the land four years ago.”
Biden’s visit also underscores how critically he regards the state. The president’s team is under pressure to demonstrate strength among the minority-heavy Democratic electorate there.
Details on the timing of the president’s visit and the contents of his speech are not yet available, but the speech is expected to be in the afternoon, tying up traffic throughout the peninsula.
Also in the news:
New budget. As we were publishing today, Gov. Henry McMaster released his 2024-25 executive budget proposal, which included suggestions for using a $1.65 billion surplus. We haven’t had time to analyze it, but you can find the budget here.
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