Clyburn, James, 1940-

CLYBURN, James Enos, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Sumter, Sumter County, S.C., July 21, 1940; graduated from Mather Academy, Camden, S.C., 1957; B.A., South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, S.C., 1961; teacher; employment counselor, South Carolina state employment security commission, 1965-1966; director, Charleston County, S.C., neighborhood youth corps and new careers projects, 1966-1968; executive director, South Carolina state commission for farm workers, 1968-1971; staff, Governor John C. West of South Carolina, 1971-1974; South Carolina human affairs commissioner, 1974-1992; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Third and to the fourteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1993-present); chair, House Democratic Caucus (One Hundred Ninth Congress); majority whip (One Hundred Tenth, One Hundred Eleventh, One Hundred Sixteenth, and One Hundred Seventeenth Congresses); assistant Democratic leader (One Hundred Twelfth through One Hundred Fifteenth Congresses).

<p>United States Congressman James Enos "Jim" Clyburn was born on July 21, 1940 in Sumter, South Carolina to Enos Lloyd Clyburn, a fundamentalist minister, and Almeta Clyburn, a beautician. Clyburn was elected president of his NAACP youth chapter when he was twelve years old, and went on to help organize many civil rights marches and demonstrations as a student leader at South Carolina State College (now South Carolina State University), where he graduated in 1962 with his B.S. degree in history. He later attended the University of South Carolina Law School.</p>

<p>Upon graduation from South Carolina State College, Clyburn was hired as a social studies teacher at C.A. Brown High School in Charleston, South Carolina. From 1965 to 1971, he worked as an employment counselor, a director of youth programs and led the South Carolina Farm Workers Commission. After an unsuccessful run for the South Carolina General Assembly, Clyburn joined the staff of Governor John C. West in 1971 and was appointed as the first minority advisor to a South Carolina governor. In 1974, he was named the South Carolina Human Affairs Commissioner. He served in that position until 1992 when he stepped down to run for U.S. Congress. In November of 1992, Clyburn was elected the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 6th Congressional District, becoming the state’s first African American to serve in Congress since 1897.</p>

<p>As a Congressman, Clyburn was elected co-president of his freshman class in 1993, and was unanimously elected chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1998. In 2002, he won an election among three House members to serve as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Clyburn rose to the position of caucus chair in January 2006, and in 2007, he became the first South Carolinian to serve as house majority whip. In 2011, he became the assistant house democratic leader and the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives.</p>

<p>James Enos Clyburn (born July 21, 1940) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina. He has served as House Majority Whip since 2019. He is a two-time Majority Whip, having previously served in the post from 2007 to 2011, and served as House Assistant Minority Leader from 2011 to 2019.</p>

<p>Currently in his 15th term as a congressman, Clyburn has served as U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 6th congressional district since 1993. His congressional district includes most of the majority-black precincts in and around Columbia and Charleston, as well as nearly all of South Carolina's share of the Black Belt. Clyburn is the current dean of the South Carolina congressional delegation. Following the departure of John Spratt in 2011, aside from the single term served by Joe Cunningham, Clyburn has been the only Democrat in South Carolina’s congressional delegation.</p>

<p>Clyburn has been the third-ranking Democrat in the House behind Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer since 2007, serving as Majority Whip behind House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer during periods of Democratic House control, and as Assistant Minority Leader behind Minority Leader Pelosi and Minority Whip Hoyer during periods of Republican House control. After the Democrats took control of the House following the 2018 midterm elections, Clyburn was re-elected Majority Whip in January 2019 on the opening of the 116th Congress, alongside the re-elected Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer, marking the second time the trio has served in these roles together.</p>

<p>Clyburn played a pivotal role in the 2020 presidential election by endorsing Joe Biden three days before the South Carolina Democratic primary. Clyburn's endorsement came at a time when Biden's campaign was suffering from three disappointing finishes in the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The South Carolina win for Biden days before Super Tuesday instantly transformed his campaign; the momentum led him to capture the Democratic nomination and later the presidency.</p>