At 85, Rep. James Clyburn is running again. Should he?
As other older politicians retire, the veteran South Carolina Democrat announces he's seeking an 18th term in Congress
No one can question South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn’s historical significance, his civil rights bona fides, or his importance within his party as a former majority whip and longtime kingmaker.
He announced today that he’s running again for Congress, looking to serve an 18th term. But at 85 years of age, he’s among the oldest Congressional Democrats, and in a party that’s seen eight members die in office since 2022, that raises serious questions for a party that looks to win — and hopefully hold — the House in the upcoming midterms.
Anand talked to him last November about the problems of America’s gerontocracy, the specific challenges facing an elderly Democratic Party, and how he sees his own age and experience impacting his political career.
Is he keeping a voice of experience in the Party? Or is Clyburn risking becoming the Fidel Castro of South Carolina?
In many ways in this era, it has been the Democratic Party that has been more reluctant to let some of these newer voices in. Or you have people like Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s clearly a star for the party, but then once in the system, there’s a lot of kind of allergy to, well, you can’t quite have committee chairmanships. Whereas I think a lot of people on the street would be like, you should give that lady whatever kind of job she wants because she is where dynamism is. You saw it with Zohran Mamdani in New York.
Again, a lot of people on the street are like, that seems like a fresh dynamic incarnation of the Democratic Party. And again, party leadership, even your colleague, Hakeem Jeffries, his fellow New Yorker, very reluctant. Chuck Schumer, very reluctant.
What do you think is going on when senior figures in the Democratic Party seem to have more of an allergy to fresh faces in their party than everyone on the street?
There needs to be a balance of experience and strength. Older people bring experience, younger people bring the strength that’s needed to get things done. And that, I think you have to have a pretty good combination. And I think we had that in our party.
Do you think right now the Democratic Party has the balance right or leans too much towards experience? Because I’ll tell you that some of the people who I think of as representing the strength side of that equation feel incredibly condescended to within their own party. They do feel the party values experience, to your father’s point. I don’t think a lot of people from that kind of younger cohort feel respected for their youthful strength.
And that’s quite true. I understand a lot of people feel that way. And I think they are right to feel that way. But I tell people all the time, I was 12 years old when I became president of my NAACP Youth Council. A lot of people have talked about that. I was 19 years old when I organized sit-ins in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the first ones in South Carolina. I didn’t ask anybody’s permission to organize those sit-ins. I didn’t ask anybody permission to get active in the NAACP in my pre-teenage years. I saw and felt and I set out to do what I thought I needed to do. And sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I didn’t.
When I first ran for office, I lost. The second time, I lost. The third time, I lost. But I didn’t give up.
And older people defeated me every time. But I didn’t let that dissuade me at all. These same older people became real mentors to me along the way and remained so right up until their deaths. So I just tell young people all the time — and I have three daughters and four grandchildren. My grandson has run my campaign for re-election. He’s my biggest fan. And his whole thing to me is, we’ll let you know when we think and the people think you should go. And so we have an annual meeting every Christmas. We go down to Hilton Head the weekend before Christmas, and we stay down to New Year’s Day and we just sit around as a family and talk about the past, talk about the future, and how we should fit ourselves into it. And we’ll have that come Christmas, and I’ll make my decision as to what to do next year based upon those discussions. And they will give me an assessment, what people are saying and I let that be my guide.
But let me tell you this: when I was being redistricted out we talk about redistricting and gerrymandering why is it that those 95 years exist between number eight and number nine from South Carolina? So when the people who keep telling me how to conduct myself, come and learn to live in that kind of environment, help me change that kind of environment.
I’ll let them tell me what to do and when to do it. But I’m not letting anybody from New York or California or wherever tell me how to conduct myself in South Carolina. Two different worlds.
At The Ink, we work for you — the readers. Help us stand up for independent media that isn’t afraid to tell the truth by joining us today.
Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Become a member today, or consider giving a gift or group subscription.
Join us for Live conversations this week!
Today, Thursday, March 12, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be talking to New York State Assemblyperson and Democratic congressional hopeful Claire Valdez. Then tomorrow, Friday, March 13, also at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, join The Ink Book Club for a conversation with veteran foreign correspondent Scott Anderson, author of a new history of the Iranian Revolution, King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution — a Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation.
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and make sure to turn on your notifications — you’ll get an email and an alert within the app once we’re live, and you can watch, chat, and even participate in the conversation from your iOS or Android mobile device. If you’re using a computer, you can also watch (and ask questions in the text chat) on our homepage. If you don’t see the conversation streaming on our homepage, just look in the notification menu (the bell-shaped icon at the upper right) and click to join us.
I am a retired geriatrician. Big supporter of old people. But Rep Clyburn has had his turn. He needs to retire. Someone younger (under age 60) candidate needs to primary him and win.
Thank you for your service, Representative Clyburn. It is time to allow the leaders 3 generations younger than you to guide their destinies. Please allow them to grow into the jobs and trust them to make mistakes, learn from them, and grow strong. Do not deprive them of the opportunity to be the leaders for their future!