Joe Biden may be denying that he ever called South Carolina his “firewall,” but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a crucial piece of his 2020 Democratic primary map.

“I said I’m going to do well there, and I’ll do well there, and I’ll do well beyond there, as well,” Biden told CBS’s Face the Nation over the weekend, refusing to accept the premise that he described South Carolina as the state that would save his floundering third White House bid.