- Former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a list of endorsements in South Carolina, a key early primary state.
- South Carolina is part of Biden's overall primary strategy.
- Biden has already benefitted from deep political connections and endorsements from high profile figures.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a long list of endorsements from South Carolina on Monday, building on the campaign's strategy in one of the most important early voting states.
Biden has deep connections in South Carolina, which has become a key component in fight to emerge at the top of the constantly growing list of Democratic candidates vying for the Party's presidential nomination.
After finishing his first official swing through South Carolina as a presidential candidate, Biden's campaign released a diverse list of endorsements from current and former state lawmakers, as well as religious leaders. One endorser is State Rep. Billy Clyburn, the cousin of House Majority Whip James Clyburn.
Biden's campaign has already benefitted from high polling compared to the rest of the Democratic field. In South Carolina specifically, Biden is far ahead of the pack, bringing in 38% of support from likely Democratic voters, according to a recent survey from Firehouse Strategies.
According to FiveThirtyEight's primary polling tracker, Biden has led the Democratic field in every South Carolina poll in which he's been included since February
Biden's strong poll numbers have already put him over the top in qualifying for the Democratic National Committee's sanctioned primary debates, which has criteria many candidates have struggled to meet.
In addition, Biden's campaign is dumping large sums of money into online advertising, specifically using Facebook, Instagram, and Google. In the first week of his campaign, Biden spent more than $700,000 on online advertising.
Whether Biden's strategy of building large coalitions of support pans out is yet to be determine, but it places him in an upper echelon of candidates who have strong networks of supports willing to back him such an early stage in the primary race.
Here's a full list of South Carolina endorsements released by the Biden campaign:
- Commissioner Yolanda Anderson, Richland District One School Board
- State Representative Jimmy Bales, Richland County
- State Representative Robert Brown, Charleston County
- Rev. Travien Capers, Zion Benevolent Baptist Church
- State Representative Bill Clyburn, Aiken County
- Former State Representative Ginger Crocker, Laurens County
- Councilman Sam Davis, Columbia City Council
- Former State Representative Jim Felder, Richland County
- State Senator Dick Harpootlian, Richland County
- Dr. Teresa Holmes, Richland District Two School Board
- State Representative Joseph Jefferson, Berkeley County
- Phyllis Lloyd-Harris , Kershaw County Democratic Chair
- Former State Senator Joel Lourie, Richland County
- State Representative David Mack, III, Charleston County
- Councilman Jim Manning, Richland County Council
- Jeanette McBride, Richland County Clerk of Court
- Former State Representative Frank McBride, Richland County
- Rev. Michael McClain
- Former State Senator Tommy Moore, Aiken County
- Rev. Johnny Ray Noble, Second Nazareth Baptist Church
- Mayor Jerald Sanders, Mayor of Swansea
- Former State Representative James Smith, Richland County