Democratic White House Candidates Head to South Carolina Black Ministers’ Breakfast

Democratic White House contenders will appear at a breakfast with black ministers in South Carolina on Wednesday, hours after a rowdy debate that featured repeated attacks on front-runner 👤Bernie Sanders as a risky choice who would lead the party to defeat in November.

Sanders and the other debate participants – all except billionaire Michael Bloomberg – will appear at the breakfast hosted by civil rights leader Al Sharpton. The event will focus on mobilizing black churches to get out the vote this year.

Also in attendance will be influential black U.S. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, who is expected later in the day to endorse 👤Joe Biden in the Democratic race to pick a challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

Biden, the former vice president who was once the front-runner in the national race, is counting on his traditional strong support from black voters, who make up about 60% of the state’s Democratic electorate, to help him win in South Carolina’s primary on Saturday.

But opinion polls have shown Sanders cutting into Biden’s lead with those voters, and the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Sanders surpassing Biden in support among them.

In a debate on Tuesday night that featured candidates repeatedly shouting over one another and plowing past their time limits, Sanders’ opponents attacked the self-avowed democratic socialist, saying his nomination would cost Democrats the White House and control of Congress.

“Bernie will lose to Donald Trump, and Donald Trump and the House and the Senate and some of the statehouses will all go red,” said Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, calling the prospect “a catastrophe.”

Pete Buttigieg