Representative Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) doubled down on his support for President Biden on Sunday and warned that Democrats are likely to lose the presidency if the party holds an open convention to select its nominee.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Clyburn said he plans to support Biden staying in the race “until he changes his mind.”
“I support Joe Biden. He is still in this race. He will be the nominee if he stays in the race,” Clyburn said. “And I think all of us should look for ways to coalesce around that candidate.”
Clyburn warned that if Democrats hold a contested convention “it will come out the same way it came out in 1968, 1972 and 1980.”
“When we had a contested process on the floor of the convention in 1980, we lost an incumbent president and in 1972, we carried one state, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia,” he continued. “And all of us know what happened in 1968 when we ran Lyndon Johnson out of the race, with a great record Lyndon Johnson had, got rid of him over one issue, the Vietnam War. Here, we are now using one issue to get rid of a president, the result would be the same.”
Clyburn’s comments come as Senator Joe Manchin (I., W. Va.) called on Biden to drop out of the race on Sunday, joining at least four other senators who have made similar appeals in recent days, including Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester, Martin Heinrich, and Peter Welch.
“I came to decision with a heavy heart that I think it’s time to pass the torch to new generation,” Manchin said during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.
Unlike Clyburn, Manchin called for an “open process” to select a new Democratic nominee.
“I think that we have a lot of talent on the bench, a lot of good people,” said Manchin, who left the Democratic party in May.
“I’ve got two tremendous governors right next door to me and Andy Beshear in Kentucky and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania who are operating with legislators either evenly split or completely opposite of their party affiliation,” he said. “They haven’t divided their state. They haven’t made you pick aside and demonize the other side. They brought people together. This is what an open process would do.”