Black voters put me where I am, says Joe Biden

After winning the contest in the state among Democrats in 2020, the President was seeking support before his party’s first official primary next weekend.

Joe Biden works the room at the Brookland Baptist Banquet Centre in West Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday. Picture: AFP

President Joe Biden has made a pitch to America’s black voters, telling supporters in South Carolina that they were responsible for getting him to the White House four years ago.

The state was vital in Mr Biden’s capturing of the Democratic Party nomination in 2020. After losing badly in Iowa and New Hampshire, he stormed back to win the first southern state to choose its candidate, achieving a momentum that led to his presidency.

The party has now moved its first official primary to South ­Carolina, defying tradition and protests among party officials in New Hampshire. Mr Biden ­comfortably won an unofficial primary in the northern state last week. Black people make up about 25 per cent of the South Carolina population and just over 2 per cent in New Hampshire.

Speaking at South Carolina Democratic Party’s “First-in-the-Nation” celebration dinner on Saturday, Mr Biden, 81, told loyalists he would beat Donald Trump in November’s general election.

“The truth is, I wouldn’t be here without the Democratic ­voters of South Carolina,” Mr Biden said. “You’re the reason I am President … You’re the reason Donald Trump is a loser, and you’re the reason we’re going to … beat him again.”

His appeal to black voters ­indicates some of the contrasts Mr Biden will try to draw between himself and Mr Trump. Polls show that black voters are ­gradually shifting away from the ­Democrats.

Mr Biden also sought to secure a deal on more funding to tackle the surge of illegal immigrants ­arriving in the US via the southern border. The President said he would be willing to close the US-Mexico border if representatives would only send him a bill to sign.

He said he would shut down the border “right now” if congress passed the proposed deal.

The framework has not been formally agreed to by Senate Democrats and Republicans, however, and would face an uncertain outcome in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“A bipartisan bill would … help fix our broken immigration system and allow speedy access for those who deserve to be here,” Mr Biden said. “It’ll also give me, as President, the emergency authority to shut down the border until it could get back under control. If that bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.”

The deal being negotiated in congress would require the US to close the border if roughly 5000 migrants crossed illegally on any given day. Last year on some days the total exceeded 10,000.

Mr Trump is pressuring Republicans to kill the negotiations. He is loath to give a win to Mr Biden on a subject that drove Mr Trump’s successful 2016 campaign and that he wants to re-use as he seeks to return to the White House.

The Times