South Carolina representative James Clyburn on what's next for Harris' campaign

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become the party's presidential nominee. In her first campaign speech in Wilmington, Del., yesterday, she said she is ready to take on the former president.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I took on perpetrators of all kinds...

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: ...Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.

(CHEERING)

MARTIN: For more on what's next for the Harris campaign, I'm joined by Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina. For many years, he was a member of the House leadership, and he has been a key adviser to the Biden-Harris campaign. Good morning, Congressman.

JAMES CLYBURN: Good morning. How are you?

MARTIN: I'm good. Thank you. So many people predicted that if President Biden dropped out this late in the process, to nominate a new candidate, that there would be chaos. That does not seem to have happened so far. So do you think that the vice president is pretty much a lock for the nomination now?

CLYBURN: Absolutely. You may recall that three or four weeks ago, I made it very clear, as the drumbeat of candidates continued, that Joe Biden should step back. Well, he called me on Sunday to tell me that he was going to announce later in the day that he would not be moving forward with his pursuit of the nomination. I thanked him for his service. I thanked him for his friendship. He assured me that he was going to issue a second statement after the first one and that in that two statement would be an endorsement of Kamala Harris. And I said to him, I thought that if he did that, that we would be able to have a very smooth transition from him to her. And that's what it turned out to be.

MARTIN: So what do you think that the vice president needs to do now in order to win over voters who may be undecided, who may not know her as well as they would like or to feel comfortable with?

CLYBURN: Focus on the future. That's what campaigns are all about. Where do you want to be with your lives, with the lives of your family, with the likes of your communities? Who do you want to be two years from now, four years from now? What would you like to see? Focus on that. She has a great foundation to run on. You cannot argue with Joe Biden's record as president, and she was there in second place for all of that. Run on that.

MARTIN: Former President George W. Bush said when he was asked if it was an advantage or disadvantage for his dad to have been president, he said, look, you inherit some of their friends and all of their enemies. What do you say to people who say, look, she inherits his accomplishments, but she also inherits the problems, the things that Republicans are already running on - inflation, immigration, etc? What's the answer to that?

CLYBURN: The answer to that is, I was in charge of immigration. We negotiated in the Senate a bipartisan immigration bill put up by a Republican. We endorsed that bill. And then Donald Trump used his influence, these MAGA Republicans, to derail the bill. Focus the people on that legislation and say, this is what I support. This is not all that I would want. This is a bipartisan compromise. Why did Donald Trump derail it? Because he says, I want this to be an issue in the campaign, and if you let this bill pass, then Joe Biden will get the credit. Focus on that so people will know what kind of charlatan he is. That's why she said yesterday at the headquarters, I know Donald Trump's type. I prosecuted them before. Prosecute the case against Donald Trump.

MARTIN: That is Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina. Mr. Clyburn, thank you so much for speaking with us once again.

CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.