CHARLESTON, South Carolina — John Legend added some star power to Elizabeth Warren’s campaign as she tries to woo voters in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary, pleading with voters to pick a candidate based on “brilliance” rather than trying to asses which candidate is most likely to beat President Trump.
“Everybody’s hoping and praying we pick the most electable candidate from the Democratic Party. But the fact is, I can’t predict who the most electable nominee is,” the singer said while introducing Warren on Wednesday. “In 2016, we thought we did that, and you probably can’t predict who’s gonna win either. So, I’m voting based on who I think will make the best president.”
Legend said that he was not planning to endorse anyone in the Democratic primary. But then he started watching the Democratic presidential debates and reading interviews, and the Massachusetts senator stood out.
“Wouldn’t it be so refreshing to have a woman of Sen. Warren’s brilliance replacing him?” Legend said, referring to Trump.
Excited attendees formed a line around the block in the rain, and around 1,000 people filled Charleston Music Hall to capacity. Several dozen people in an overflow crowd who couldn’t fit in the venue waited in an ally behind the theater to hear Legend and Warren briefly address them before speaking to the main crowd.
After Warren gave her stump speech, focusing on rooting out corruption in government, Legend came back to perform a few songs on a baby grand piano. He opened with a cover of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song — “Won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom?” — and invited the crowd to sing along to his hit All of Me.
[Opinion: What happened to Elizabeth Warren? ]
Got to meet @johnlegend at a packed @ewarren event and hear him do Redemption Song. Chills. pic.twitter.com/kJFavS0wxE
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) February 27, 2020
Two police officers staffing Warren’s event popped in the theater to snap a picture of Legend performing.
“I love you!” one woman in the crowd yelled.
But for many voters in the crowd, Warren was the bigger star of the evening.
Undecided voter Mary Hewlitt, a retired lawyer in Charleston, said that while she is a Legend fan, his presence was just a perk rather than something that helped sway her toward voting for Warren.
“I came for her,” Hewlitt said. “You’re sort of trying to be sure that the Democratic Party can defeat Trump, and so you’re trying to figure out who the strongest person is in the field of the candidates. And initially you think Biden, but then there’s so many stars.”
Legend and his wife, model and activist Chrissy Teigen, are outspoken supporters of the Democratic Party.
