James Clyburn Rips El-Sayed’s Rallies For Lack of Diversity: ‘Tells Me All I Need to Know’

Screenshot via Zeteo

Democratic Party elder and prior presidential kingmaker Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) jabbed at progressive U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday, calling out the lack of Black Democrats at his events.

Clyburn, who is supporting El-Sayed’s opponent in the primary, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), told Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio:

I saw a picture that concerned me [from] the rally. I didn’t see a single person that looks like me. That tells me all I need to know.

Clyburn was talking about an image from a recent El-Sayed rally in Detroit, a longtime Democratic stronghold in the state, thanks in large part to the city’s large Black population.

“Black voters are breaking overwhelmingly for Stevens, and she’ll need to run up the score among that key demographic,” noted Desiderio of the dynamics in the race.

Progressive backers of El-Sayed are working to dispel the idea that the left-wing base of the party is at odds with Black voters. “I think what we’re actually experiencing right now is a more nuanced conversation than to simply treat Black people and Black voters in this country as a monolith,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told Punchbowl on the topic. “That is a mistake that I think many people are making.”

Progressive candidates, particularly Democratic Socialist (DSA) candidates, have found success ousting establishment Democrats this cycle, in large part to young white voters in affluent urban areas like metro-Denver and Manhattan. Many of the DSA candidates have jabbed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Black Democrats, like Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), over their positions on issues like Israel and public safety.

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