Black Democrats are closing ranks around Hillary Clinton amid growing fears that Bernie Sanders poses a real threat to her presidential candidacy.
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC this week voted to make its endorsement of Clinton official, and “more than a dozen” CBC members will be storming South Carolina later this month to stump for her ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 Democratic primary, according to CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).
Clinton leads Sanders by a wide margin in the Palmetto State, particularly among black voters. But the Vermont senator’s blowout victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday — combined with his surprisingly close finish in Iowa the week before — has some Clinton supporters concerned that she’s failing to connect with younger voters.
“There are serious concerns that the millennial gap is as wide as it is. And I would hope that over the next day or two they would figure out a strategy to address it,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), a CBC member and Clinton backer, said Wednesday.
But an even bigger worry for the Clinton campaign is that the former secretary of State could lose her grip on the black vote, a constituency long seen as a firewall in the primary.
“This might be the scare that the campaign needs,” Thompson said of Clinton’s loss in New Hampshire. “And sometimes it takes a shellacking to get you back to reality.”
Clinton allies on Capitol Hill aren’t in full-scale panic mode yet. But with just over a week to go before the next Democratic contest, in Nevada, they’re questioning Sanders’s credentials as an advocate for minorities.
“It’s good to have new friends, but I would prefer to have true friends. Hillary Clinton has been a true friend to the African-American community for more than 40 years. During that same period of time, Bernie Sanders has been largely missing in action,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a CBC member, said on a Wednesday conference call organized by the Clinton campaign.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/269037-black-lawmakers-sprint-to-clintons-aid
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC this week voted to make its endorsement of Clinton official, and “more than a dozen” CBC members will be storming South Carolina later this month to stump for her ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 Democratic primary, according to CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).
Clinton leads Sanders by a wide margin in the Palmetto State, particularly among black voters. But the Vermont senator’s blowout victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday — combined with his surprisingly close finish in Iowa the week before — has some Clinton supporters concerned that she’s failing to connect with younger voters.
“There are serious concerns that the millennial gap is as wide as it is. And I would hope that over the next day or two they would figure out a strategy to address it,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), a CBC member and Clinton backer, said Wednesday.
But an even bigger worry for the Clinton campaign is that the former secretary of State could lose her grip on the black vote, a constituency long seen as a firewall in the primary.
“This might be the scare that the campaign needs,” Thompson said of Clinton’s loss in New Hampshire. “And sometimes it takes a shellacking to get you back to reality.”
Clinton allies on Capitol Hill aren’t in full-scale panic mode yet. But with just over a week to go before the next Democratic contest, in Nevada, they’re questioning Sanders’s credentials as an advocate for minorities.
“It’s good to have new friends, but I would prefer to have true friends. Hillary Clinton has been a true friend to the African-American community for more than 40 years. During that same period of time, Bernie Sanders has been largely missing in action,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a CBC member, said on a Wednesday conference call organized by the Clinton campaign.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/269037-black-lawmakers-sprint-to-clintons-aid
