House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) is defending his decision to remain in party leadership after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) step down next year.
Clyburn, who is the third-ranking House Democrat, will step down as whip to serve as assistant Democratic leader, the fourth highest-ranking party leadership position, in the next Congress. While technically a demotion, the position will make Clyburn the sole member of Pelosi’s leadership team remaining in the party’s top ranks as a new generation takes over. Asked about the matter in a pair of interviews Sunday, the 82-year-old explained that southern representation in the Democratic Party was the main factor behind his decision to stay.
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“I’ve always said there is a healthy respect — it’s biblical with me — we need to have a healthy blend of strength and knowledge,” Clyburn said when asked on CBS’s Face the Nation why he wasn’t following Pelosi’s lead and stepping aside. “And look at leadership: The South is left out of it. And what I’m doing is trying to make sure that we do not tilt too far to the east or too far to the west but maintain what we have here. There is no other Southerner among the leadership, and we need the South.”
Clyburn made similar comments in an interview conducted Wednesday with the Post and Courier, published Sunday morning, telling the outlet: “I’m continuing on in order to keep South Carolina and the South in the forefront of the Democratic Party’s future. I don’t want to see the South written off.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has long been seen as Pelosi’s heir apparent, will lead Democrats as House minority leader in the next Congress. He’ll be joined by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) as minority whip and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) as caucus chairman, the second- and third-ranking positions, respectively.
Unlike Clyburn, who has served in House Democratic leadership since 2003, the three lawmakers will be new to the top jobs. Still, they’re starting with the full support of Pelosi, Clyburn, and Hoyer, and they are all running for their positions unopposed.
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Clyburn wrote in a letter to fellow lawmakers after Pelosi and Hoyer announced their decisions to step down that his nearly two decades of leadership experience would be an asset to Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar as they get their footing in their new roles.
“As we Democrats set about the work of retaking the majority in 2024 and re-electing our President, I humbly ask for your support to remain at the leadership table as the Assistant Democratic Leader, to work alongside our new generation of Democratic leaders which I hope to be Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar,” Clyburn wrote.
