Rep. jim clyburn (SC), the aide to the House Democratic leader, announced Thursday that he endorses Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago.
Clyburn’s blessing is a big blow for Johnson, a black and progressive Cook County commissioner, who is running against Paul Vallas, a white centrist and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Specifically, the nod from Clyburn, a staunch moderate with a national profile, helps Johnson cement the support of black voters, including older black voters who might otherwise be skeptical of Johnson’s left-wing views on surveillance and taxation.
The endorsement is also one of many that Johnson’s campaign hopes will help present the officially nonpartisan race as a contest between a Democrat in Johnson and a Republican in Vallas, despite Vallas’s insistence that he is a “Democrat.” lifelong”.
Representative Clyburn said in a statement first provided to HuffPost: “I am proud to endorse Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago. Commissioner Johnson is a man of family, faith and public service, and I know those core values will guide his leadership as mayor.”
Clyburn also pointed to their shared background as the children of Christian ministers.
“Commissioner Johnson and I share many characteristics: our spirit of activism, our professional beginnings as public school teachers, our commitment to justice, and we are both PK (Preacher Kids),” he said. “Commissioner Johnson will be a mayor who will do everything in his power to make Chicago a safe place for everyone, and he makes me proud to support him.”
A prodigious fundraiser, Clyburn has been “pooling,” or collecting campaign donations for Johnson for weeks, according to the Johnson campaign.
The two men were linked in person when Johnson went to Selma, Alabama, on March 5 to join the annual commemoration of the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” march for voting rights. Clyburn connected with Johnson on a personal level, discussing their common upbringing and their shared admiration and love for the history and legacy of the 20th-century black civil rights movement, according to Johnson’s campaign.
Johnson, who accompanied the Chicago-based Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. for much of the march, also met briefly with President Joe Biden while there. Jackson’s son, Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), was an early supporter of Johnson’s candidacy.
Clyburn, who, in 2007, became the first black American to serve as Most House Whip, is one of the most powerful Democratic and black elected officials in the country. His approval he helped Biden win the South Carolina primary, and ultimately the Democratic presidential nomination, when Biden’s campaign was on the wane. Clyburn’s influence was later evident in Biden’s endorsement for making South Carolina the first state on the Democratic presidential primary schedule.
“Mr. Clyburn has a history of supporting candidates with whom he has common ground and shared values.”
– Antjuan Seawright, political adviser to Rep. Clyburn
Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden reflected a focus on electability and incremental progress that places him squarely in the centrist wing of the Democratic Party. In 2021, Clyburn’s endorsement provided crucial support for U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) in her Democratic primary victory about progressive frontrunner Nina Turner, a former Ohio State Senator and ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
In particular, Clyburn, a veteran of the black civil rights movement in the 1960s, was one of the first and consistent critic of the “defund the police” slogan adopted by some progressive activists after the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. He expressed concern that would undermine the Black Lives Matter movement the way he believed some radical factions had undermined the civil rights movement of the 1960s and blamed the phrase for underperforming Democrats in the 2020 elections.
By contrast, Johnson, a former public school teacher and organizer for the Chicago Progressive Teachers Union, embraced calls to “defund the police” in 2020, interpreting it as the redirection of resources from law enforcement to social programs. However, as a candidate, Johnson vowed not to cut police funding, proposing instead to use the efficiency savings to fund the addition of 200 detectives by promoting existing officers.
HuffPost has not received any information to suggest that Clyburn discussed the specific issue of police funding with Johnson when they met in person. However, his endorsement could still help reassure voters skeptical of Johnson’s past positions that Johnson can be trusted to fight for public safety in a city where a surge in violent crime since 2020 is disproportionately affecting to predominantly black neighborhoods.
“Mr. Clyburn has a history of supporting candidates with whom he has common ground and shared values,” said Antjuan Seawright, Clyburn’s political adviser. “Not to mention, he has a history of supporting candidates whose life experiences mirror those of the voters they hope to represent.”
Seawright noted that Clyburn also tends to back candidates he thinks will win.
Brian Stukes via Getty Images
Johnson surprised some election watchers when, with a considerably smaller war chest, he defeated Mayor Lori Lightfoot for a second-place seat behind Vallas in the first round of the mayoral election on February 28. Although Fences got about 33% to Johnson’s 22%. , neither candidate obtained an absolute majority, prompting a second round.
Johnson still has an uphill battle ahead of him in recent weeks. Vallas has been using his financial advantage to hammer johnson on TV as a police defunder and tax collector. You may soon get help spreading that message from a super cap programmed to start spending on your behalf.
But years of unforced errors by Vallas have given Johnson plenty of fodder to portray him as a Republican with ties to the far right. For example, in a 2009 TV interviewVallas said he was “more Republican than Democrat.” and in a interview 2021 On a conservative radio show, Vallas mocked former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Biden and Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D), to whom Vallas previously made a campaign contribution.
Ken Snyder, a Chicago-area Democratic consultant who is not aligned with either mayoral candidate, said bringing in Clyburn is potentially part of the right strategy for Johnson.
“The more Vallas can define Johnson as far left, the more centrist Vallas appears,” Snyder said. “It’s up to Johnson and his supporters to make this more of a Democrat-Republican race and not a center-versus-left race.”
There are signs of a Democratic convergence in favor of Johnson. He already has the support of Toni Preckwinkle, chairman of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Democratic Party. Additionally, Clyburn’s endorsement comes on the heels of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) endorsing Johnson earlier this week.
But Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton (D), Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin (D) and Duckworth, and Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx (D) have yet to weigh in on the race.
“If the Illinois Democratic establishment, the highest-profile elected officials in the state, rally around Brandon, it would quickly decide the race in Brandon’s favor,” Snyder said. “It remains to be seen if that is happening. And time is ticking.”
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