Jim Clyburn has represented South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District since 1993. Clyburn served as House majority whip from 2007-2010 and again from 2019-2022, and served as assistant Democratic leader from 2011-2018 and from 2023 to 2024. Clyburn sat down exclusively with the HPR during his campus visit — the same day Harvard announced that they will not comply with the demands sent out from the Trump administration — to discuss how he represents the state of South Carolina while reckoning with its past, the Democratic party’s media problem, and advice for future leaders.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Harvard Political Review: You are the representative of the 6th Congressional District of South Carolina. While a different geography, the 6th Congressional district was once held by John Calhoun, a man who called slavery a “positive good” and believed people like you did not deserve to be citizens. Do you ever think about that symbolism, and does it change the way you represent your constituents?
Jim Clyburn: I think about it all the time, but I don’t let it drive what I do and how I do it. After
he died before the Civil War, and this country came to grips with that entire issue when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and of course, that started a set of events that led to Reconstruction.
When I think about the issue of slavery and Reconstruction in South Carolina, I think about the people whom I call the first eight [Black Congressmen], whom I’m writing about in an upcoming book, emphasizing the role they played, and that’s what I let guide me. You don’t lose sight of that, but you work very hard to make sure that you do your part as number nine, which I am. Now the problem is it took 95 years between the eighth and ninth myself.
HPR: In the last election, Democrats struggled in the communities they’re meant to fight for. What do you think the party needs to do to reconnect with those who feel left behind?
JC: You may be surprised at this, but those especially in the media, I think their focus is terribly wrong. The Democratic Party is up against a movement that’s far beyond the party. I don’t care what the Democratic Party does if the media and all of our institutions are caving to an autocratic persuasion. There’s not much a party can do.
I can talk to you for an hour, and if you decide to take one 10-second clip out of the conversation, and that defines who and what I am, [then] the whole thing is taken out of context, that’s what is happening. I’m telling everybody the Democratic Party is alive and well, but we can only do as well as we are allowed to do by the forces that drive thought in this country.
I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was when I got the news this morning on my way here: Harvard University decided to stand up. That’s not what the other schools are doing, what the media forces are doing. When I saw The Washington Post cave in, I came to believe that this is bigger than the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party depends on The Washington Post to tell the story, and when they decide you’re not going to fact-check anything, it means you are capitulating to the process. This is not a Democratic Party problem; this is a country problem.
HPR: South Carolina’s state motto is “While I breathe, I hope.” What are you hopeful about?
JC: Well, South Carolina really has two mottos: the one that you just mentioned, what people see on the seal. Jamie Harrison from South Carolina quotes the other motto all the time, which is “prepared in mind and resources.” I like that one a little bit better, because I used to tell my students, ‘While I breathe, I hope is a really nice motto to have, but he who only hopes is hopeless.’ So I like to be prepared in mind and resources.
I tell young people, ‘don’t ever lose faith in yourselves.’ If you don’t lose faith in yourselves, you’ll maintain the ability to join forces when the time comes to save this country from itself. Never give up, I tell young people that there’s a saying that three strikes and you’re out, but that’s a baseball rule, and nobody should live their lives by baseball rules.
So I would say, go with the fundamentals that you learn from your parents, your grandparents. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try it again. There’s no numerical limit on that. So I tell young people: hold on to faith. Hold on to whatever drives you, and keep plugging along. You can work through all these things, but hopefully be ready. So, when the forces come together, you can join forces and make the changes that are necessary in this country.
