Biden Ally James Clyburn Refuses to Call on Him to Drop Out Even as Fellow Dems Jump Ship: ‘He Will Be Our Nominee’

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), a key ally of President Joe Biden , said Sunday that he is standing by the president as dozens of congressional Democrats have called on him to end his 2024 reelection bid.

The man many credited with helping Biden out of the weeds early on in the 2020 Democratic primary with a crucial endorsement told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s edition of State of the Union that he would only change his mind on Biden’s candidacy if the president himself decided to step aside.

“We’re at a real moment of crisis for the Democratic Party,” Tapper noted as he welcomed the congressman on his show. “We’re approaching 40 members of the House and Senate who have called on President Biden to step aside.”

Tapper reminded Clyburn that just moments before, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) had called on Biden to suspend his campaign . Tapper asked Clyburn, “Is it in the best interest of the Democratic Party for President Biden to remain the Democratic presidential nominee?”

Clyburn pointed to the Democratic Party’s primary, which Biden won with ease, as evidence that the voters had already decided on the matter of who the nominee should be. The congressman said:

Let me say this, Joe Biden has been through a process along with Kamala Harris and they have received over 14 million votes to be our standard bearers. That’s where we are, there’s a process in place. It’s been in place since the spring of the year. Our rules committee did a great job of putting together a process for us to go through on our way to the convention and it’s still there.

I said some time ago that process lends itself well to us to get into the convention as a unified party. And that’s what we need to do. I support Joe Biden. He is still in this race. He will be our nominee. If he stays in the race, and I think all of us to look for ways to coalesce around that candidacy.

Clyburn concluded he would stand behind Biden no matter how many of his fellow Democrats called for the president to pass the torch amid concerns about his mental acuity and electability .

“I’ve been asked, ‘What will it take for you to change your mind?'” Clyburn said. “It will take [Biden] changing his mind. And if he were to change his mind, then I will change mine. But until that time, we as Democrats should honor this process and should do what is necessary to preserve our democratic principles.”

Tapper interjected, “I appreciate your loyalty to President Biden, but the question I asked was, is it in the best interest of the Democratic Party for him to be the nominee?”

Clyburn concluded, “It is always in the best interest of the Democratic Party to follow the rules.”

Watch above via CNN.