South Carolina: Sixth District

Rep. James Clyburn (D)

James Clyburn (D) Elected 1992, 8th term up
Born:	07-21-1940, 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.
DC Office	2135 RHOB, 20515 202-225-3315 Fax: 202-225-2313 Website: clyburn.house.gov
State Offices	Columbia:803-799-1100; Florence:843-622-1212; Santee:803-854-4700;
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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. Gullah, a mixture of English, French and African dialects is still spoken on the sea islands, and Gullah customs survive—oyster roasts and sweet potato feasts at Christman, handmade dolls and sweetgrass baskets. 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 many blacks decided not to wait, abandoning South Carolina for opportunities in the North. Today, heavily black rural counties are suffering steeper losses in manufacturing jobs than urban areas.

The 6th Congressional District of South Carolina, created in 1992 as a black-majority district, 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. Orangeburg was the scene of a massacre in February 1968, when three black students were killed and 27 wounded by police while protesting a segregated bowling alley; in April 2007 South Carolina State was the site of the first Democratic presidential debate in the 2007–08 cycle. The 6th’s population in 2000 was 57% black, and in 2004 it gave George W. Bush only 39% of the vote—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; he met his wife while in jail for three days. Clyburn worked as a teacher, as an employment counselor and in government antipoverty programs. In 1970 he ran for the South Carolina House and went to bed on election night thinking he was the winner, only to find out the next morning that he had lost by a narrow margin. When asked for his reaction by a reporter, he said, “I lost because I didn’t get enough votes.” That prompted Governor-elect John West to ask him to join his administration. In 1974 West appointed him state Human Affairs commissioner and he served 18 years, under two Democratic and two Republican governors. Twice he ran for secretary of state, in 1978 and 1986, losing narrowly. Then the new, black-majority 6th District was created. The white incumbent, Democrat Robin Tallon, at the last minute decided not to run. Clyburn did, and in the Democratic primary won 56% of the vote against four black opponents, all with serious claims for the nomination. 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 only black to represent South Carolina in Congress since George Washington Murray (a distant relative of his), left in 1897, has a moderate-to-liberal voting record. He was elected Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1998. 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 House member to do so. When cigarette tax increases were proposed, he urged safeguards for tobacco farmers. He worked with Republican Sherwood Boehlert to pass a law in 2000 establishing whistleblower protection for airline employees. He voted for the partial-birth abortion ban in 2003. In September 2004 and March 2005, the House passed his bill to create a Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor from northern Florida to North Carolina.

On the Appropriations Committee from 1998 to 2006, he focused on local projects. He has sought to develop the corridor around I-95, which passes through rural counties in the district and to push for development of cellulosic ethanol. “We grow soybeans galore. Our energy alternative should be home-grown, American-owned. We can do sugar cane and sugar beets.” As chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1999, he urged the Democratic National Committee to become more responsive to blacks; he also sought to create a Policy and Leadership Institute for the Black Caucus to develop new liberal positions and protect black lawmakers in redistricting. After 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. He said the leadership needed to reflect the party’s diversity and not “just white men.” In 2003, he demanded an apology after Tom DeLay said that minority Democrats in Texas were “more Democrat than they are minority” if they turn down his offer for additional minority districts from redistricting. “We have long and sordid experiences with policies and practices that are acted upon purportedly on our behalf without our inclusion in the process,” he said. In January 2006 he was elected Democratic Caucus Chairman, the number four position in the party leadership. In November 2006 he was elected House Majority Whip; Rahm Emanuel, who was interested in the post and who as DCCC Chairman had done much to gain the majority for Democrats, succeeded him as Caucus Chairman. “For some reason people up here feel if you’re going to get ahead in this environment you’ve got to learn how to elbow people aside and you’ve got to learn how to run over other people,” he said after he was chosen. “I don’t think so. That’s not my style.” He said he would delegate more than Steny Hoyer had as Minority Whip and described his approach: “When it comes to working with the Democratic Caucus, I have to fish in a lot of ponds. I go fishing with the Blue Dogs. I go fishing with the New Dems. I go fishing with the Hispanics and I go fishing with the Asian Pacific Islanders, trying to cobble together the 218 votes I need. But a lot of times I have to be a hunter, and they tell me, even though I never hunt, they tell me that a good hunter knows how to work both sides of the ditch. I fish among my caucus, Democratic members, and I go hunting sometimes, among my Republican members.” Before the Democratic takeover he indicated his support for the seniority system. “I’m going to be leery of going away from seniority. African-Americans supported the seniority system and waited their turn. Now, we get nervous when people talk about changing the rules.”  In Febuary 2007, speaking to South Carolina pastors, he defeneded earmarks. “I’ve seen a lot of letters to the editor of the Post and Courier very critical of the earmarking I’ve been doing. Yet y’all are asking me this morning for earmarks. How many of you have written a letter in response to some of these letters? Have you ever written a letter to the Post and Courier or to any other newspaper saying you support what I’m doing? Not one of you ever have. We might lose this battle on earmarking because y’all are staying silent while you’re sitting here telling me what you want.”  

Back home Clyburn has not faced serious opposition for reelection. He has relished his role as a major player and potential kingmaker in the state's often pivotal Democratic presidential primary. Blacks cast about half the votes in the primary, and Clyburn is the most prominent black politician in the state. In the 2004 presidential primary campaign, he first backed Dick Gephardt, with whom he had worked in the House. But Gephardt withdrew after the Iowa caucuses, and Clyburn endorsed frontrunner John Kerry rather than South Carolina native John Edwards. In 2007, his support was eagerly sought by Democratic contenders, who attended his annual Fish Fry in Columbia.

Committees

• Majority Whip.
  

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D +11
• Area size: 8,490 square miles
• Urban Population: 48.0%
• Rural Population: 52.0%
• Population 2000: 668,670
• Population 2005 (est): 642,387
• Median Income: $28,967
• Poverty Status: 22.4%
• Military Veterans: 12.4%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 40.3% White; 56.7% Black; 0.5% Asian; 0.3% Native Am.; 0.0% Hawaiian; 0.7% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 1.5% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 9.0% USA%; 4.1% English%; 3.7% German%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 33.0%; White collar 48.1%; Gray collar 18.9%;