In South Carolina, Biden is trying to convince black voters to reject Trump

Hoping to revive the momentum that propelled him to the White House, President Biden told a largely Black audience Saturday evening that “you are the reason Donald Trump is a defeated former president,” in what was essentially his first appearance was associated with the Democratic Party. primaries.

Mr. Biden made clear in his remarks at a South Carolina Democratic Party dinner in Columbia, S.C., that he saw the coming week not just as a competition, but as a pivotal moment to engage a frustrated base of black voters. to give the whole country new energy. And ahead of the Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary, which the party's national committee selected last year as the nation's first, Democrats believe they have found themselves in an opportune moment.

Now that former President Donald J. Trump has won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary for the Republican nomination, Mr. Biden's allies plan to highlight not only the president's record, but also the urgency of the moment: the general elections are now effectively underway. they say.

“He has made it known what he will do if he returns to power,” Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, said of Mr. Trump in an interview. “And to see that blossoming as a possibility and to see him perform as well as he has in the polls, it worries me.”

“Do what you did before,” Mr. Clyburn said in an appeal to the black electorate. “Turn those elections around and save this democracy.”

The sense of urgency is rooted in growing concern about polls showing Biden's performance among Black voters in battleground states, especially among men. Some Democrats also worry that the high death toll in Gaza from Israel's offensive against Hamas will fuel frustration among younger voters. Twice during Saturday's event, demonstrators shouting criticism of Gaza's civilian casualties were removed as attendees chanted over them: “Four more years!”

Mr. Biden, who early in his presidency rarely mentioned the former president by name, sometimes became animated when talking about Mr. Trump, recalling how he had insulted veterans. Mr. Biden, whose age of 81 has raised concerns among voters, also tried to flip the script on the 77-year-old Mr. Trump. “Have you noticed he's a little confused these days?” Mr. Biden asked, noting that Mr. Trump had recently swapped former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, another candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

“You are the reason Donald Trump is a loser,” Mr. Biden told the crowd. “And you're the reason we're going to win and beat him again.”

For some local leaders, Mr. Biden must do more than just contrast himself with Mr. Trump. The president must communicate his slate of policy achievements to voters who raised their expectations for substantive changes when Mr. Biden was elected, those leaders say.

South Carolina's Democratic primaries are not expected to be competitive. Still, the Biden campaign has focused on the state for weeks, sending a stream of Democrats and high-level organizers there and targeting an advertising blitz on policies that Democrats say have helped Black voters.

Clay Middleton, a senior adviser to the South Carolina campaign, said that while Biden should have “no problem” winning the state's primary, this week presented an opportunity to send a message to the black electorate in other theaters of war. “The message is: we are next,” he said.

Fletcher N. Smith Jr., a former state representative in South Carolina who worked as a surrogate for the Biden campaign in 2007 and 2020, said portraying the election as a choice between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump would not be enough to influence the elections. Black voters.

“There is no excitement about his campaign,” Mr. Smith said. He is backing Mr. Biden again this year but said the president's team needs to better communicate with local officials across the state. “All Biden and his team in South Carolina want to do is have a monologue and not a dialogue,” Mr. Smith said.

“Your problem is that you don't know how to talk to black people,” he added.

Just before attending the Democratic Party dinner, Mr. Biden, along with Mr. Clyburn — who had helped revive Mr. Biden's 2020 campaign — visited the Regal Lounge barbershop to speak directly to community members to speak.

His allies say the president should outline the policies he has adopted for Black Americans, including investing roughly $7 billion in historically black colleges and universities, reducing Black unemployment and inflation and capping insulin prices. Mr. Clyburn drew loud applause at the South Carolina Fairgrounds when he said Mr. Biden had passed a bipartisan infrastructure package that would help renovate a highway interchange in the state known as “Malfunction Junction.”

But Brandon Brown, a former congressional candidate in South Carolina who had won Biden's endorsement, said he was concerned that these policies would not satisfy voters who wanted the government to do more amid high housing prices and restrictions on abortion and voting rights. .

“One of the challenges we face especially in South Carolina is that it is a messaging problem,” Mr. Brown said. “You hear more about what Donald Trump is talking about and what he is focusing on than about what the president is doing.”

Mr. Biden addressed some of these concerns on Saturday evening. “Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away your freedoms,” he said, describing restrictions on voting and abortion. “I'm not going to let that happen.”

Many voters, Mr. Brown said, are also paying less attention to what Mr. Biden has done and more to what he proposed, including his plan to wipe out $400 billion in student debt. After that plan was blocked by the Supreme Court, however, the White House moved forward with a more targeted plan to cancel student debt.

“You tell me you have this basic program in place, and you have millions of people signed up, and then all of a sudden it's taken away from you,” Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Biden has so far forgiven more than $136 billion in student loans for nearly 3.7 million Americans, and he has increased the maximum Pell grants, a move that particularly affected Black students. On Saturday, Mr. Clyburn read a letter from an American who had paid off debt for 25 years before the rest was forgiven last fall.

“He kept his promise,” Mr. Clyburn said of Mr. Biden.

Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, told reporters before Mr. Biden's remarks that by emphasizing those economic measures, and by insisting that the alternative choice would be Mr. Trump, the Biden campaign was turning the tide with black voters could turn.

“When voters see the stark contrast, they will recognize that President Biden is pro-working class,” Khanna said.

Krista Greene, a Columbia native who now teaches at a high school in the city, still needs convincing. She still believes that Mr. Biden has not done enough to raise working-class wages or prevent civilian deaths in Gaza.

Ms. Greene, a registered Democrat, recently received a call from her friend saying it was time to throw her weight behind Biden, given Trump's recent victories in New Hampshire and Iowa. “I'm not there yet,” Mrs. Greene said.

“I wish we had better options,” she said in an interview. “This is crazy.”