2026年4月26日 / 美国东部时间上午10:29 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：罗伯特·科斯塔
罗伯特·科斯塔是《哥伦比亚广播公司周日早间新闻》的全国通讯员，同时也是哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的华盛顿首席分析师。
如果你近些年来关注过民主党总统竞选，就会知道南卡罗来纳州有多重要——它是总统初选中的早期试水阵地，也是民主党真正的权力中心。
尽管非裔美国人占南卡罗来纳州人口的四分之一，但吉姆·克莱伯恩是该州目前唯一一位在众议院任职的黑人议员（同时也是民主党议员）。33多年来，作为民权活动家、政党战略家以及政治幕后推手，克莱伯恩靠一次次握手、一次次拥抱搭建起了自己的政治人脉网络。他每年举办的鱼宴派对，对任何怀揣白宫抱负的民主党人来说都是必参加的活动。
当被问及乔·拜登曾表示，获得克莱伯恩的背书对他2020年的胜选至关重要时，克莱伯恩回应道：“或许是真的。他都这么说了！我可不太确定！”他补充道：“作为一名够格的政客，我可不会否认这一点。”
上世纪60年代，克莱伯恩是一名校园组织者。正是通过这份工作，他结识了马丁·路德·金博士。他也是在参与民权抗议活动时，结识了已故妻子艾米丽。
克莱伯恩认为，从他曾抗议过的压迫性吉姆·克劳法，到如今试图削弱1965年《投票权法案》的举措，二者之间存在直接关联。当被问及如今的民主党人是否在为当下的权益做足抗争时，克莱伯恩答道：“我认为美国人民做得还不够。我不会允许这件事被塑造成民主党对抗共和党。这无关政策与政治；这是我们作为美国人理应恪守的底线。但我们是否足够坚持？我想不到最终结果出炉，没人能真正知晓答案。而最终结果要到11月才会揭晓。”
当被问及他在上世纪60年代发起的民权斗争是否已经结束时，克莱伯恩说：“嗯，它们确实结束了。只不过又卷土重来了。”
克莱伯恩还表示，如果民主党在11月赢得多数席位，他预计特朗普总统不会尊重选举结果，除非结果呈现压倒性优势。“我绝对相信这一点，因为他之前就这么干过，”克莱伯恩说，“判断一个人会怎么做，最好的方式就是看他过往的所作所为。既然他之前这么做过，那就说明他有能力故技重施。”
克莱伯恩谈拜登退选风波
尽管如今克莱伯恩的重心放在中期选举上，但许多民主党人仍在热议拜登2024年总统竞选突然退选一事及其影响。克莱伯恩表示，拜登退出连任竞选“对他本人来说是正确的决定。我认为这对民主党来说也是正确的决定。但我觉得退选后做出的一些决定并不妥当。我认为竞选团队的运作方式存在失误。”
不过克莱伯恩对拜登退选后民主党全国竞选的运作方式感到不满。“当时全国各地的人都给我打电话，尤其是密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州的选民，他们对我说：‘请告诉相关人士，他们没有尽全力开展必要的动员投票工作，’”他说，“这是事实。现在很多人不愿直面这个问题，但当时确实有很多人打来这样的电话。所以我清楚，民众都觉得是算法在主导竞选，而不是那些真正能深入基层开展工作的人。”
寻求连任
本月早些时候，《周日早间新闻》跟随克莱伯恩回到了他的母校南卡罗来纳州立大学——一所历史悠久的黑人院校，他在那里对学生们分享了一些建议：“当你思考领导力、思考作为一名代表时，要尽早明确你想要通过这份代表职务实现什么。你是想制造头条新闻？还是想取得切实进展？”
利特尔·布朗出版公司
在职业生涯中，克莱伯恩两者都做到了，最近一次便是决定竞选第18个任期。今年夏天，他就将年满86岁。
他承认自己花了很长时间才做出这个决定：“当时有人对我说：‘你确定你这么做是出于对选民的关切，还是出于私心？’我扪心自问，我到底是出于私心，还是依然心系我的选民？答案是后者。”
克莱伯恩并不是今年唯一一位面临年龄争议的候选人；目前有十几位80岁以上的国会议员正在寻求连任。当被问及是什么让他坚持下来时，克莱伯恩答道：“我的父母从小就教导我，有责任将这份事业继续下去。”
即便过去了这么多年，吉姆·克莱伯恩仍想至少再在政坛奋战一轮。
阅读节选：吉姆·克莱伯恩所著《最初八位》这位南卡罗来纳州民主党人是第九位在众议院代表本州的黑人议员，书中讲述了帮助美国在内战重建时期及之后走上正轨的前辈们的故事。
更多相关信息：
- 众议员吉姆·克莱伯恩（民主党-南卡罗来纳州）
- 《最初八位：塑造国家的先锋黑人国会议员个人史》，吉姆·克莱伯恩著（利特尔·布朗出版公司），精装版、电子书及有声书均已上架，可在亚马逊、巴诺书店及Bookshop.org购买
- 南卡罗来纳州立大学
本报道由埃德·福戈特森制作。编辑：杰森·施密特。
Rep. Jim Clyburn on protecting democracy: “I don’t think the American people are doing enough”
April 26, 2026 / 10:29 AM EDT / CBS News
By Robert Costa
Robert Costa is a national correspondent for “CBS News Sunday Morning” and chief Washington analyst for CBS News.
If you’ve paid attention to Democratic presidential politics in recent decades, you know South Carolina matters – an early test in the primary race, and a true center of power in the Democratic Party.
Though African-Americans are a quarter of South Carolina’s population, Jim Clyburn is the state’s sole Black representative (and Democrat) in the U.S. House. And over 33 years, Clyburn – a civil rights activist, party strategist, and political kingmaker – has built his political network one handshake and one hug at a time. His annual fish fry is a must-attend event for any Democrat with White House ambitions.
Vice President Joe Biden, with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), on stage after declaring victory in the South Carolina presidential primary, February 29, 2020 in Columbia, S.C. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Asked about Joe Biden’s contention that receiving Clyburn’s endorsement was crucial to his victory in 2020, Clyburn replied, “That might be true. He says it’s true! I don’t know!” He added, “I’m too good a politician to deny that.”
In the 1960s, Clyburn was a campus organizer. It’s how he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also met his late wife, Emily, when they were both protesting for civil rights.
Clyburn sees a direct line from the history of oppressive Jim Crow laws that he protested against, to the present-day push to roll back the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Asked if Democrats today are doing enough to protest today, Clyburn replied, “I don’t think the American people are doing enough. I’m not gonna allow this to be a Democrat versus a Republican thing. That is not policy and politics; that is what we as Americans ought to be about. And do we follow through enough? I don’t know that you can really know that, until the final verdict is in. And that won’t happen until November.”
Asked if the fights and debates over civil rights issues issues that he was having in the 1960s ever ended, Clyburn said, “Well, they did end. They’re just coming back.”
Clyburn also said that he expects, should Democrats win the majority in November, that President Trump will not respect the result unless it’s overwhelming. “I absolutely believe that, because he’s done it [before],” Clyburn said. “The best way to tell what a person will do is to look at what he or she has done. And so, if he’s done it, he’s capable of doing it again.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn with CBS News’ Robert Costa. CBS News
Clyburn on Biden’s aborted bid
Although the midterms are Clyburn’s focus today, President Biden’s aborted 2024 candidacy remains very much in mind for many Democrats, who continue to discuss the impact of that move. Clyburn said for Biden to drop out of his reelection bid was “the right decision for him. I think it was the right decision for the party. I think some decisions were made after that which were not good decisions. I think mistakes were made in how the campaign went forward.”
But Clyburn has frustrations with how the Democrats ran their national campaign after Biden dropped out of the race. “I was getting phone calls from people all over the country, especially from Michigan and Pennsylvania, asking me, ‘Please tell somebody they are not doing what we need to do to turn this vote out,’” he said. “Now, that’s a fact. Now, a lot of people don’t want to deal with that. But I was getting the phone calls. So, I know that people felt that algorithms were driving the train rather than people who had the boots that needed to be put on the ground.”
Seeking re-election
Earlier this month, “Sunday Morning” followed Clyburn to his alma mater, South Carolina State University, a historically Black university, where he shared some advice with students: “When you think about leadership, being someone’s representative, make an early decision as to what you want to do in that representation. Do you want to make headlines? Or do you want to make headway?”
Little, Brown & Co.
In his career Clyburn has made both, most recently for his decision to seek re-election for an 18th term.. He will turn 86 this summer.
He acknowledges that he took a long time to come to that decision: “I was talking to one person who said to me, ‘Are you sure that you’re doing this out of concern, or selfishness?’ And I asked myself, are you being selfish, or do you still maintain concern for your constituents? And I do.”
Clyburn is not the only candidate this year for whom age is an issue; there are a dozen members of Congress who are 80+ and seeking re-election. Asked what keeps him going, Clyburn replied, “My parents instilled in me the obligation to carry it forward.”
Even after all these years, Jim Clyburn wants to remain in the ring for at least one more round.
READ AN EXCERPT: “The First Eight” by Jim ClyburnThe South Carolina Democrat, the ninth Black man to represent his state in the House of Representatives, writes of his predecessors who helped direct the course of America during and after Reconstruction.
For more info:
- Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
- “The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation” by Jim Clyburn (Little, Brown & Co.), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- South Carolina State University
Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Jason Schmidt.
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