Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC), assistant to the House Democratic leader, announced Thursday that he is endorsing Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago.
Clyburn’s blessing was a major coup for Johnson, a Black and progressive Cook County Commissioner, against Paul Vallas, a white centrist and former Chicago Public Schools CEO. In particular, the nod from Clyburn, a strong moderate with a national profile, helped Johnson consolidate the support of black voters, including those who Old Black voters who may be skeptical of Johnson’s left-wing views on policing and taxation.
The endorsement is also one that Johnson’s campaign hopes will help make the race officially nonpartisan as a contest between Democrats in Johnson and Republicans in Vallas, though Vallas insists he is a “lifelong Democrat.”
Rep. Clyburn said in a statement available first to HuffPost: “I am proud to support Brandon Johnson for Mayor of Chicago. Commissioner Johnson is a man of family, faith and public service, and I know these core values will guide his leadership as Mayor.”
Clyburn also shared a similar background as the son of Christian ministers.
“Commissioner Johnson and I share many characteristics: our passion for activism, our professional beginnings as public school teachers, our commitment to justice, and we are both PKs (Preacher Kids),” he said. “Commissioner Johnson will be a Mayor who does everything in his power to make Chicago safe for all, and I am proud to support him.”
Clyburn, an extraordinary fundraiser, had been “bundling,” or collecting campaign donations for Johnson for weeks, according to Johnson’s campaign.
The two men became one when Johnson traveled to Selma, Alabama, on March 5 to join the annual March 1965 “Bloody Sunday” commemoration for voting rights. Clyburn connected with Johnson on a personal level, discussing their common upbringings and sharing his 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 Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. to Chicago throughout much of the march, also met with President Joe Biden briefly while he was there. Jackson’s son, Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), was an early supporter of Johnson’s bid.
Clyburn, who, in 2007, became the first Black American to be House Majority Whip, is one of the most powerful Democrats and Black elected officials in the country. Kang endorsement famously helped Biden win the South Carolina primary — and ultimately the Democratic presidential nomination — when Biden’s campaign launched. Clyburn’s influence was then apparent Support Biden to make South Carolina the first state on the Democratic presidential primary calendar.
“Mr. Clyburn has a history of supporting candidates who share common ground and shared values.
– Antjuan Seawright, Rep. Clyburn’s political advisor
Clyburn’s support for Biden reflects the focus on electability and incremental progress that has made him the center wing of the Democratic Party. In 2021, Clyburn’s endorsement provided crucial support for US Representative Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) in her Democratic primary win against progressive favorite 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 an early and consistent critic of the “defund the police” slogan taken by some progressive activists after the killing of George Floyd by the police in May 2020. He expressed his concern. that it will destroy the Black Lives Matter movement in the way he believes some radical factions destroyed the civil rights movement of the 60s and blames the sentence for the poor performance of Democrats in the 2020 elections.
In contrast, Johnson, a former public school teacher and organizer for the progressive Chicago Teachers Union, accepted the call to “defund the police” in 2020, translating it as a diversion of resources from law enforcement to social programs. As a candidate, however, Johnson has promised not to cut police funding, proposing instead to use efficiency savings to fund an additional 200 detectives by promoting officers there.
HuffPost has not received information to suggest that Clyburn discussed specific issues of police funding with Johnson when they met in person. However, the endorsement could still help voters who are skeptical of Johnson’s past positions if Johnson can be trusted to fight public safety in a city that has seen a spike in violent crime since 2020 disproportionately hit predominantly black neighborhoods.
“Mr. Clyburn has a history of supporting candidates who share common ground and shared values,” said Antjuan Seawright, Clyburn’s political adviser. “Furthermore, he has a history of supporting candidates whose life experiences reflect the constituents he hopes to represent.”
Seawright noted that Clyburn also tends to endorse candidates he thinks will win.
Brian Stukes via Getty Images
Johnson surprised some election observers when, with a smaller war chest, he defeated Mayor Lori Lightfoot for second place behind Vallas in the first round of the mayoral election on February 28. Although Vallas got about 33% to Johnson’s 22%. , no candidate obtained an outright majority, resulting in a runoff election.
Johnson still has an uphill climb ahead of him in the final weeks. Vallas has used the funding advantage to hammer Johnson on TV as a de-funder police and tax raises. They may ask for help in spreading the message super PAC scheduled to begin spending on his behalf.
But years of unforced errors from Vallas have given Johnson plenty of fodder to portray him as a far-right Republican. For example, in a 2009 TV interview, Vallas said he is “more of a Republican than a Democrat.” And in an interview in 2021 on a conservative radio show, Vallas spoke disparagingly of former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Biden and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth (D), to whom Vallas had previously given campaign donations.
Ken Snyder, a Chicago-area Democratic consultant who is not aligned with the mayoral candidate, said bringing in Clyburn was part of the right strategy for Johnson.
“The more Vallas can define Johnson as dead on the extreme left, the more Vallas looks centrist,” Snyder said. “It’s up to Johnson and his supporters to make it a Democrat versus Republican race and not a center versus left race.”
There are signs of a Democratic convergence on Johnson’s behalf. He already has the support of Toni Preckwinkle, chairwoman of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Democratic Party. Additionally, Clyburn’s endorsement comes from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) who endorsed Johnson earlier this week.
But Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D), Lt. Governor 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 establishment of Illinois Democrats, the highest-profile elected officials in the country, coalesce around Brandon, it will determine the race quickly in favor of Brandon,” Snyder. “It remains to be seen whether that will happen. And the clock is ticking.”