Updated Sunday at 9:40 am ET
President-elect Joe Biden chose Jaime Harrison to head the Democratic National Committee, elevating the South Carolina Democrat who emerged as a party star during his unsuccessful attempt to oust Senator Lindsey Graham in 2020.
“Together, we will organize everywhere, invest in state parties, expand the map and elect democrats who will be the champions of this country’s working class,” Harrison tweeted shortly after Biden’s transition team announced his choice on Thursday. .
Harrison is a former president of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, and his choice highlights the influence of another Democrat from South Carolina, Congressman James Clyburn, the majority leader in the U.S. House.
Clyburn – a longtime Biden ally whom the president-elect credited for reviving his campaign before the South Carolina primary – publicly advocated that Harrison take first place in the DNC.
“I have been in this business for a while and I can say that there is always tension between the county presidents and the national president,” Clyburn told CBS News in December. “Getting someone who has been president of the county and obtained significant support from presidents across the country would be a very good thing.”
If voted, Harrison, 44, will be accused of leading Democrats in what is expected to be a challenge to the mid-term elections in 2022.
He has already proven himself to be a formidable fundraiser.
During his unsuccessful Senate campaign last year against Republican Graham, Harrison raised more than $ 130 million – a record at the time for a Senate campaign – including $ 57 million raised in the last quarter alone.
Although his candidacy failed – Graham won by about 10 percentage points in the red state – Harrison won national recognition.
Choosing him to head the DNC highlights the continued incursion of Democrats into the south, traditionally Republican states, after the party won Senate seats in Arizona and Georgia in recent months.
Biden’s team also announced its list of vice presidents, including Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth – all three were considered at one point on the shortlist from Biden to vice president. Biden also hired Texas representative Filemon Vela Jr. as vice president.
DNC members will vote for these positions, which will run for 2021-2025, next week.
As for what the party could expect with Harrison in charge, the prospective incoming president offered a plan during his failed bid for the job in 2016.
“We can’t just focus on the White House. If we do what we have to do at the state level, the White House is the sauce,” Harrison told David Greene of NPR in December of that year.
He added: “I bring a different perspective. I will probably be – if elected president – probably the only person who has ever received food stamps who was president of the Democratic Party, the only president who will have more than $ 160,000 in student loan debt. I want I mean, I can relate to the story of so many in this country who started behind the starting line and are now trying to succeed. “Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.