Hillary Clinton will earn a key endorsement on Thursday, when the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee backs her over Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders.
“One of the individuals that has been with us time and time again has been Hillary Clinton,” New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee, told CNN’s Carol Costello on “Newsroom.” “She has been, her whole career, an individual that has been fighting for issues that are important to the African-American community.”
Meeks called endorsing Clinton “the right thing to do.”
“Black folks are not dumb. They come out for individuals that have their best interest at heart,” he said.
The formal CBC PAC endorsement took place at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, though the DNC itself is neutral in the contest.
“(Clinton’s) been our partner a long time. We believe she’s made a difference and she’s helped us and helped this country,” Meeks said at the press event.
North Carolina Rep. G. K. Butterfield sought to distinguish Clinton from Sanders as a candidate with foreign policy experience, achievable goals and an awareness of issues affecting African-Americans.
“We must have a president who is knowledgeable on both domestic and foreign policy,” said Butterfield, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “We must have a president who understands the racial divide, not someone who just acquired the knowledge recently.”
“We need a president who doesn’t simply campaign and promise wonderful things — things that are politically impossible to achieve,” he added.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the CBC backing “a very big deal” but stopped short of endorsing Clinton herself during her weekly news conference.
Meanwhile, Sanders’ backer Rep. Keith Ellison, a CBS member, tweeted, “Cong’l Black Caucus (CBC) has NOT endorsed in presidential. Separate CBCPAC endorsed withOUT input from CBC membership, including me.”
Clinton received support from 90% of the CBC’s political action committee in the vote by the board, and Sanders did not receive any votes. Ellison, however, does not sit on the board and therefore did not get a vote.
Nevertheless, the endorsement will likely aid Clinton with a powerful part of the Democratic base as she works to gain momentum following her more than 20-point loss to Sanders in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. Clinton is looking to rebound in the next contests in Nevada and South Carolina.
Both Clinton and Sanders have raced to court minority voters who will play a large role in determining who is the eventual Democratic nominee. Many members of the CBC had already endorsed Clinton, with the notable exception of South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.
But the CBC’s timing — on the heels of Clinton’s rough New Hampshire primary — could mark a change in momentum in favor of the former secretary of state.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, a Clinton backer, previewed the case for Clinton.
Reed said Thursday on CNN’s “New Day” that Sanders has been “dismissive” of President Barack Obama’s work helping underprivileged communities.
He also questioned the Vermont senator’s commitment to the Democratic Party.
“One of the things that has been very troubling to me and to people in the city of Atlanta and folks I talk to in Columbia, South Carolina, is how dismissive Sen. Sanders’ message is of the work of President Barack Obama,” Reed told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
“He talks about college affordability but he never referenced how much President Obama and Democrats put on the line to remove $50 billion from the cost of college,” Reed said.
Sanders’ campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders rebutted Reed’s remarks in an interview later on “New Day,” saying the Vermont senator is “supportive of President Obama.”
“He has done an amazing job. But what we are saying is the next president of the United States — and I think the Clinton campaign would agree — has to build on that success and has to take America to the next level,” she said.
Clyburn, who commands a significant political operation in South Carolina where voters will weigh in on February 27, said he will spend the weekend mulling his endorsement.
“I will follow their lead and make a decision sometime soon since they are endorsing today. I did not want to get out in front of them,” the No. 3 House Democrat said of the CBC’s decision.
“I’m going to make my decision based upon past record and future possibilities, because campaigns are about the future, and who can best deliver what I would call a growth of President Obama’s foundation that he’s laid for all of us to build upon,” Clyburn said.
Though much has been made of the at-times fraught relationship Clyburn has had with the Clintons — he spoke out in 2008 after Bill Clinton made controversial remarks about Obama during that heated Democratic primary — the South Carolina congressman said he holds no ill will.
The former president was merely defending his spouse, Clyburn said.
But the congressman pushed back on critiques that Sanders has disparaged Obama’s record. He also disagreed with those who have questioned the Vermont senator’s party loyalties since he spent his career as an independent who caucuses with Democrats, rather than as a Democrat.
“I don’t have anything critical to say about him,” Clyburn said. “And I’ve never looked upon him as being anything other than an independent Democrat. Now, he calls himself a democratic socialist or something of that sort, but he can call himself what he will.”
Ultimately, Clyburn said, he will support the candidate who has a track record of advocating for the interests of African-Americans.
“We say down in South Carolina all the time that the best way to tell what a person will do is to look at what he or she has done,” he said.
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