Rep. James Clyburn (D) Elected 1992, 6th term
Born:	July 21, 1940, Sumter
Home:	Columbia
Education:	SC St. U., B.A. 1962
Religion:	African Methodist Episcopal
Marital Status:	married (Emily)
Professional Career:	Teacher, 1962-66; Dir., Charleston Neighborhood Youth Corps, 1966-68; Exec. Dir., SC Comm. for Farm Workers, 1968-71; Asst., SC Gov. West, 1971-74; SC Human Affairs Comm., 1974-92.
Additional Info
Recent Articles · Offices · Committees · Ratings · Key Votes · Election Results District Demographics
More On South Carolina
At A Glance · State Profile District Map Redistricting · Almanac Home

South Carolina was first settled by planters from Barbados, bringing with them a tropical plantation economy, which they transferred to the not-quite-tropical climate of the Carolina coastal lowlands. Here the flat Low Country and many islands are laced with sluggish-flowing rivers and swamps, and here the planters brought thousands of slaves directly from Africa. Colonial South Carolina was one of the richest parts of North America, with dazzling Georgian architecture in Charleston and classic plantation gardens; the planters built great irrigation systems and grew rice and cotton and the dye-plant indigo, all heavily in demand in Britain and elsewhere. All this wealth, of course, was built on the slave labor of countless African Americans. In colonial times, a majority of South Carolinians were slaves, as were a majority of lowlands residents when Fort Sumter was fired upon (although there were also many free blacks in Charleston, a few of whom owned slaves themselves).

South Carolina's black heritage has left a lasting imprint on American culture, and the African-influenced Gullah language still can be heard here. The poverty that was the almost universal lot of lowland blacks after the Civil War has eased only in the last generation, as development came to the coast and long cultural isolation dissipated. But such rural, landlocked counties as Bamberg and Williamsburg still rank among the state's poorest, and over the years, many blacks decided not to wait, abandoning South Carolina for opportunities in the North. Today, rural, heavily black counties are suffering steeper losses in manufacturing jobs than urban areas are.

The 6th Congressional District, created in 1992 as a black-majority district, with its boundaries modified in 1994 and 2002, includes only a bit of the South Carolina coast, which is increasingly lined with affluent retirement and recreational communities. The district's boundaries, less jagged since the 2002 redistricting, take in the black, central-city neighborhoods of Charleston, North Charleston and Columbia but leave their affluent white areas, both urban and suburban, in the adjacent 1st and 2d Districts. The 6th includes Orangeburg, home of the historically black South Carolina State University, and Florence, at the center of the Pee Dee tobacco-growing country in eastern South Carolina. The 6th, with a 57% black population, gave George W. Bush only 40% of the vote in 2000--the only South Carolina district he failed to carry.

The congressman from the 6th District is James Clyburn, a Democrat first elected in 1992. Clyburn grew up in Sumter, the son of a minister. In 1960 he was one of seven young people who organized the state's first sit-ins, at a five-and-dime store in the Orangeburg town square; in February 2001, Governor Jim Hodges apologized for the massacre that took place there in 1968, when highway patrolmen killed three protestors and wounded 27 others. Clyburn worked as a teacher, in government antipoverty programs and on the staff of Governor John West. In 1974 he became state Human Affairs commissioner, serving 18 years under Republican and Democratic governors; when criticized for working for Republican Carroll Campbell, Clyburn got him to back the state's first fair housing act. Twice he ran for secretary of state, losing narrowly. In 1992 Clyburn effectively won the 6th District seat in the Democratic primary, with 56% of the vote against four black opponents, all with serious claims for the nomination; the white Democratic incumbent in the old 6th District, Robin Tallon, at the last minute decided not to run. Clyburn, well known statewide, ran first or second in every part of the district and piled up 88% of the vote in his home county of Sumter.

Clyburn, the first black to represent South Carolina in Congress since 1897, has a moderate-to-liberal voting record. He has good working relationships with leading businessmen and Republicans and--like many South Carolinians before him--has focused on local priorities first. He supported the balanced budget amendment and joined the moderate New Democrat Coalition at its inception in 1997, the only black to do so. Against campaign finance critics in his own party, he has defended PACs as the voice of the little guy. When cigarette tax increases were proposed, he urged safeguards for tobacco farmers.

In 1999, he got a seat on the Appropriations Committee, where he continued his focus on local projects, including $30 million for the Cooper River bridge replacement in Charleston. Also that year he became chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, where he showed his reputation for being conciliatory and non-confrontational. He urged the Democratic National Committee to become more responsive to blacks, and sought to create a Policy and Leadership Institute for the Black Caucus to develop new liberal positions and protect black lawmakers in redistricting. But he ran into opposition when he supported the King efforts to have the Library of Congress purchase Dr. Martin Luther King's papers for perhaps $20 million. Following the 2002 election, he won a three-candidate contest to become vice-chairman of the Democratic Caucus with 95 votes to 56 for Gregory Meeks and 53 for Zoe Lofgren, placing him among the top half-dozen House Democratic leaders; it was vital, he said, that the leadership reflect the party's diversity and not "just white men." He pledged to sharpen the party's message.

Back home, Clyburn relished his role as a major player and potential kingmaker in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary and found himself wooed by candidates for support in the potentially crucial South Carolina primary. Blacks may well cast a majority of the votes in the primary and if not will cast a large minority, and Clyburn is the most prominent black politician in the state. "You try to play the hand you've been dealt to the best of your ability," he told National Journal. He has been close to Dick Gephardt, but in early 2003 he said he would not endorse anyone until late in the year--perhaps as a Christmas present.

Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, House Race Hotline, National Journal and Technology Daily archives using the form below:

DC Office
2135 RHOB 20515, 202-225-3315; Fax: 202-225-2313; Web site: www.house.gov/clyburn

State Offices
Charleston, 843-965-5578; Columbia, 803-799-1100; Florence, 843-622-1212.

Committees

• Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman
.
• Appropriations (19th of 29 D): Energy & Water Development; The Legislative Branch; Transportation, Treasury & Independent Agencies.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	95	71	100	75	48	50	20	50	0	6	17
2001	70	--	90	64	--	--	14	61	20	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	65%	--	36%		93%	--	5%
Social	68%	--	32%		92%	--	6%
Foreign	86%	--	12%		87%	--	10%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  8. Arm Commercial Pilots N  9. Trade Promotion Authority N 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court N 11. Authorize Force in Iraq N 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	James Clyburn (D)	116,586	67%	$398,652
	Gary McLeod (R)	55,760	32%	$10,616
2002 primary	James Clyburn (D)	34,106	89%
	Ben Frasier (D)	4,304	11%
2000 general	James Clyburn (D)	138,053	72%	$449,439
	Vince Ellison (R)	50,005	26%	$39,945
	Other	4,322	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (73%); 1996 (69%); 1994 (64%); 1992 (65%)

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	126,287	58%
	Bush (R)	87,252	40%
	Other	2,991	1%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Sixth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 9
• District Size: 8,490 square miles
• Population in 2000: 668,670; 48.0% urban; 52.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $28,967; 22.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 33.0% blue collar; 48.1% white collar; 18.9% gray collar; 12.4% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 40.3% White, 56.7% Black, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.7% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.5% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 9.0% USA, 4.1% English, 3.7% German
• Click here for statewide demographic data.