As Biden, Sanders battle at top of SC Democratic race, Steyer threatens to break in
The leading contenders in the home stretch of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary are Joe Biden, the longtime front-runner in polls, and Bernie Sanders, whose 2016 presidential bid gave him a head start over other challengers.
But despite those advantages, another candidate — unconventional and barely registering in national polls — is disrupting what are, perhaps, the best-laid plans of his better known challengers.
Waging an aggressive campaign in South Carolina to target African American voters, billionaire Tom Steyer is in third place in South Carolina, according to an average of polls. The former California hedge fund manager has outlasted some of the party’s most promising candidates in part by dropping millions of dollars on the airwaves for more than a year to boost his name recognition.
And Steyer’s concentrated attention on the Palmetto State has gone far beyond television and digital ads.
He has a staff of more than 90 people that practically blanket events when the candidate comes to town. Having spent upwards of $10 million in the state on TV and digital, Steyer has targeted some of his financial largesse to black-owned media and on college campuses. His wife, Kat Taylor, has put down roots even if temporarily in the state, renting a house in the Columbia area. And Steyer is returning to South Carolina on Monday for two Upstate town halls, less than a week after he shut down a large portion of downtown Winnsboro in Fairfield County for a block party that included food trucks, a video game trailer and the announcement of a new endorsement from one of the state’s black legislators.
“This is showing the rural areas that our Democrats care,” Tangee Brice Jacobs, 67, chair of the S.C. Democratic Party’s rural caucus, told The State in Fairfield County last week, adding that between Steyer and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s visit, “this has been the greatest turnout.”
This reality is why political observers note presidential candidates should not ignore Steyer.
However, candidates have largely tried to avoid Steyer and in some cases refused to engage when Steyer has criticized them.
But his success building support on the primary stage has started to concern his challengers’ camps, particularly supporters of Biden who worry that two disappointing losses in Iowa and New Hampshire — and potentially a second place Nevada finish next Saturday — could hurt the former vice president’s momentum in a state that Biden has had the longest lasting relationships with out of all the candidates.
Biden has not lost his No. 1 standing in the country’s “First in the South” primary polls among likely Democratic voters.
Much of that support stems from the state’s key black voters, who make up two-thirds of the state’s Democratic primary electorate.
But a recent survey from East Carolina University, taken a day after the New Hampshire primary, shows that Biden’s grip on the state has loosened, a signal that Steyer’s resources — from staff to spending on black-owned media — in South Carolina may be paying off.
That poll has him competing with Sanders, who started building his coalition ahead of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
Steyer’s polling in South Carolina improved over the New Year, jumping from the single into the double digits in 2020, allowing him to compete for second place with Sanders, a position U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren held as 2019 closed out.
“He’s (Steyer) smart to be spending money in the black community, because the black community is the largest voting bloc in the Democratic Party,” said state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, a Charleston Democrat backing Biden. “So, you go where the people are who vote. I don’t think it’s a pander. I actually think it’s smart.”
However, the larger question, Kimpson said, is whether on Feb. 29 Steyer will see a return on his investment.
“Ronald McDonald can spend billions of dollars and get 10 to 15%,” Kimpson said. “And look, I want to be a billionaire one day, too. I’m not demonizing like some candidates have. I’m not demonizing success. I don’t think South Carolinians vote that way. We do appreciate you spending money with our local constituents. But the fact is that’s just one component of what South Carolinians consider when voting for a candidate.”
Steyer is ‘planting seeds’
Steyer’s presence in the state doesn’t concern everyone.
“We’re not threatened. No, not at all,” said state Rep. Terry Alexander, D-Florence, who, as he did in 2016, supports Sanders.
With Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, claiming victory in Iowa, Sanders came out triumphant in New Hampshire last week, giving him some momentum as candidates ready for the Nevada caucus which will offer candidates a real test of how they measure with Hispanic and Latino voters.
Sanders leads the pack in Nevada, POLITICO reported, with 25% of the state’s likely Democratic caucusgoers according to a new poll.
Though in South Carolina Sanders has continued to poll second to Biden, but by a close margin, the latest RealClearPolitics national average poll puts Sanders on top, including in California — a Super Tuesday state — which can offer a candidate hundreds of delegates.
Rather, Alexander said, it should be Biden who is concerned.
“Biden had claimed to be the one to win South Carolina, by a big margin, and I don’t think that’s (going to be) the case,” Alexander said. “If anybody is more threatened, probably Biden because we think Steyer is taking (voters) from Biden.”
Biden’s moves show he knows just how important South Carolina is moving forward.
Should Biden not win South Carolina, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn — who has not made his 2020 endorsement public — said on MSNBC last week Biden would be “in a very precarious situation.”
Hours before New Hampshire primary results were announced, Biden had already left the Granite State and had taken the microphone at a Columbia launch party, telling dozens of his most loyal backers that he is not going anywhere despite pundits and political analysts forecasting the demise of his campaign.
“You hear all of these pundits and experts and cable TV talkers talk about the race, tell them, ‘It ain’t over, man,” Biden said. “We’re just getting started.”
And on a call with reporters last week, Symone Sanders, a senior adviser on Biden’s campaign, said the campaign’s strategy leading up to South Carolina’s primary will be aggressive, including another launch of its bus tour, more surrogates and, of course, Biden himself.
Some of Biden’s key supporters also have dismissed the recent barrage of criticism Steyer and his campaign have aimed at Biden in recent weeks, trying to get Biden to disavow one of his most prominent S.C. boosters over a tweet Steyer and his supporters say was racist. That tweet, fired off by state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, asked questions about why Steyer had a Democratic state representative on his payroll. It also set off a melee between the two campaigns’ supporters in the Legislature.
But to one Biden backer, that dust-up doesn’t matter.
“That’s a side show,” Kimpson said. “Anybody that reads the paper knows what’s happening. South Carolinians know what’s happening. If he (Steyer) wants to spend his time meddling in Richland County matters, let him do it. But I think that’s a distraction.”
In some ways that distraction might be working.
Over the last week, Steyer picked up two endorsements from under the S.C. General Assembly — Reps. Annie McDaniel, of Fairfield, and John King, of York.
His campaign also announced last week that it hired state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter as a senior national adviser. The Orangeburg Democrat is influential in state and national Democratic politics, including as a Democratic national committeewoman. Cobb-Hunter is the longest serving S.C. House member and serves as the current president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
In an announcement of her hire, Cobb-Hunter said climate activist Steyer had the broadest appeal to voters across the country.
“Steyer is building the most racially diverse coalition of voters who look like America as it is today,” Cobb-Hunter said. “He is the only candidate who walks the walk and talks the talk.”
‘A billionaire to beat a billionaire’
Steyer’s approach to building support, including unabashedly hiring influential black leaders, has its critics.
But some S.C. Democrats see his unconventional background — he’s a billionaire who has never held office — as just what the party needs to combat President Donald Trump who also fit that description before he was elected president.
In Winnsboro, McDaniel, who helped introduce Steyer to her district, said last Sunday that Steyer’s billionaire status is a positive.
“And we do know money makes a difference, right?” McDaniel said. “A billionaire to beat a billionaire. Now, some people think that because he drops a little bit of money that he’s buying the vote.”
“How many people agree with that?” McDaniel asked to shouted, “Nos.”
“What he’s doing is planting seeds,” she responded. “And when he becomes the president of the United States of America, those seeds will start growing correctly and all of us will be able to enjoy all the greatness of America that we should’ve enjoyed (a) long time ago.”
‘This race is just starting’
Time will tell whether newcomer Steyer, unconventional and competitive, stymies or aids the top candidates’ efforts.
Post New Hampshire, Rep. Alexander said Sanders’ momentum will continue into South Carolina.
“He is the candidate to beat ... because he has the base,” Alexander said. “He has organizational structure. It’s going to be another ride to a better day for him. I was here in 2016 ... and what we were having to do was build a foundation. This year, we’re building on a foundation.”
And Biden’s supporters feel the same way.
“South Carolina’s always going to be a place where if, no matter Iowa no matter what happens in New Hampshire, he’s going to do well here,” said state Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, a Charleston Democrat who originally endorsed Beto O’Rourke before he exited the race.
Noting Biden’s lifetime of public service and built-in relationships in South Carolina, Pendarvis said, “that’s going to give him enough cover to potentially be able to rebound from any mishaps that he’s had.”
“He’ll do well enough here to let people know that he’s still the front-runner, he’s still viable,” Pendarvis said.
But Steyer is not going away.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to come into South Carolina with a lot of momentum,” Steyer told reporters in Winnsboro Sunday. “We’re doing well here, but I’m hoping to do better. And so, as far as I’m concerned, this race is just starting.”
At Steyer’s Winnsboro block party was Colin Feaster, 50, still undecided between Biden and Steyer. Feaster said he likes Steyer’s approach to climate change and he likes that Biden served as vice president to the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, who helped implement change like health care.
But, Feaster conceded: “Tom Steyer was here and Joe Biden (was) not. Major factor to me, because he’s in my hometown.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
