Campaign strategist: 'Why not head to Michigan or Wisconsin? Go to Georgia'

By Amie Parnes and Nicole Gaudiano

Some Democrats are questioning the decision to send President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to South Carolina, saying the Biden campaign needs to be solely focused on taking on former President Donald Trump in the general election.

Biden will be in the Palmetto state on Monday where he will speak at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, one of the oldest Black churches in the South and the scene of a racially targeted mass shooting in 2015 that killed nine people. Those close to the campaign say it’s part of a broader effort to have more face time with Black voters.

Vice President Kamala Harris will also appear in the state on Saturday – her seventh trip to the state as vice president – where she will speak at the Seventh Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society. She’ll be a keynote speaker on Jan. 15 at the annual “King Day at the Dome” event in Columbia, before traveling to Wisconsin later this month.

While the state is important in the Democratic primary, it’s virtually unreachable for Biden in the general election, when states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Nevada will play a bigger role in winning Biden the 270 Electoral College votes he needs for a second term.

“I don’t understand the point of South Carolina,” said one prominent Democratic donor who is close to the campaign. “Why not head to Michigan or Wisconsin? Go to Georgia.

“This is game time,” the donor added. “This stuff matters.”

A Democratic strategist agreed. “This isn’t the time to get sentimental about the last election and it just doesn’t matter in terms of 2024.”

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But Biden campaign aides say they can campaign in primary states like South Carolina and actively set their sights on Trump. Biden, for example, will be going to Pennsylvania on Friday to speak about Trump and the threat he poses to democracy.

The campaign also released an ad on Thursday highlighting the preservation of democracy, which will run on national television as well as key markets including Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

On a call with reporters Tuesday, the Biden campaign said the stops are central to winning Black voters in the general election. While Biden leads Trump among Black voters, one in five who responded to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll said they would back a third-party candidate in the general election.

Joe Biden addresses a crowd during a campaign event at Wofford University February 28, 2020 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“We’re not going to wait and parachute into these communities at the last minute and ask them for their vote,” Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager of the Biden campaign said on the call. “We’re going to earn their vote.

“We know that we have to communicate with these constituencies about the dangers that the other side poses. And we’re going to do both. But voters of color are the ones who have the most at stake in this election. And we need to make sure that every single one of them understands the choice in front of them.”

South Carolina’s primary – held on Feb. 3 – will be Biden’s first electoral contest since 2020 and he will square off against Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) and Marianne Williamson, both of whom are seen as longshots for the Democratic nomination. Biden is ahead of those contenders by 61 percentage points, according to a Real Clear Politics average.

In general elections for president, the state hasn’t gone to a Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Former President Donald Trump beat Biden there in 2020 by nearly 12 percentage points, and he defeated Hillary Clinton there in 2016 by 14 percentage points.

But Biden’s emotional and political attachments to the Palmetto state run deep.

After the death of his son Beau, he grieved with members of the Mother Emanuel AME Church.

South Carolina was also critical to Biden winning the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, lifting him up after a series of losses. An endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn — the state congressional delegation’s only Democrat – helped lead to his victory there, and likely helped him with Black voters in other states. Biden later recommended making the more diverse Palmetto state the first in the Democratic primary lineup.

“If there had been no South Carolina, there would have been no Biden president, likely,” said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist.

Biden’s trip to South Carolina follows his Saturday campaign event near Valley Forge, where he’ll make the case that American democracy and fundamental freedoms are on the ballot in the election. The campaign says the historic church embodies the stakes of the moment.

“Whether it is white supremacists descending on historic American city of Charlottesville, the assault on our nation's capitol on January 6, or white supremacist murdering churchgoers at Mother Emanuel nearly nine years ago, America is worried about the rise in political violence and determined to stand against it,” Fulks said.

Longabaugh said it makes sense to focus on the state, given that it’s now holding the first Democratic primary. But also the shooting tragedy at the church became a national issue, and Biden will be able to speak to Black voters across the country from this church.

“As often happens in politics, a bunch of things come together that make that a very metaphorically powerful location to deliver that message,” Longabaugh said.

Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said it’s still early in the cycle, Biden needs to be committed to “showing up in the primaries, which will answer a lot of doubts that people have.”

“Imagine if some surprise happened in South Carolina, that would send shockwaves through the Democratic primary process,” Simmons said. “It's smart for him to pay attention to the early primaries.”

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Why South Carolina? Some Dems Question Biden’s Early Focus on a State Where He Can’t Beat Trump