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Energizing South Carolina's Black voters is crucial to Biden as campaign looks ahead to swing states

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2024

Energizing South Carolina's Black voters is crucial to Biden as campaign looks ahead to swing states

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The Democrats’ first primary of the 2024 presidential contest contains little mystery. South Carolina propelled President Joe Biden to the Democratic nomination four years ago and he faces only token opposition when voting concludes Saturday.

What’s at stake for Biden is the depth of support he receives from Black voters. They made up half the party’s primary electorate in the state in 2020 and gave him a resounding victory, a win he rewarded by moving South Carolina to the front of the party’s nominating process. In the general election, Biden was backed by 91% of Black voters nationwide, according to AP VoteCast.

Whether he enjoys a similar level of support this year has implications far beyond South Carolina.

Biden’s support among Black voters has waned considerably since he assembled his winning coalition four years ago. His approval rating among Black adults is 42% in the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a substantial drop from the first year of his presidency.

That’s a potentially troubling sign as he prepares for a rematch against former President Donald Trump, the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination. Lackluster turnout among Black voters in South Carolina’s primary could signal a broader dip in enthusiasm. Biden will need to energize Black voters in the key swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

His campaign is not taking the state for granted. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been visiting in the lead-up to the primary and have promised to keep advocating for the interests of the Black community.

Interviews with a wide array of Democratic-leaning Black voters in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary revealed general support for the president, from early voting centers in Columbia, the state capital, to a historically Black college in Orangeburg to a voter-mobilization event in Charleston. But they also provided warning signs: Voters want Biden to spell out his priorities for a second term while expressing concerns about his age and how he is handling inflation and the economy.

GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

Younger Black voters said they want Biden to represent their concerns and to see them prioritized if he wins a second term.

Alexandrea B. Moore, a 22-year-old senior at South Carolina State University, said Biden could have been more transparent about the challenges he faced in fulfilling his promise of widespread student loan forgiveness, a plan that ultimately was struck down by the Supreme Court.

“If Biden wants to be able to regain the trust of the U.S. citizens, then there does need to be a little bit of transparency on why things didn’t go the way that they were promised to us,” she said.

Olivia Ratliff, a 19-year-old sophomore at the college, the state’s only public historically Black college or university, wants to hear Biden focus on education issues, primarily school safety and the teacher shortage.

South Carolina school districts reported over 1,600 teacher vacancies at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, a 9% increase from the year before, according to a report from the South Carolina Education Association.

“It’s bad enough we send our children to schools with no teachers, but then they also risk their lives every day going to school,” said Ratliff, an education major.

Kailyn Wrighten feels let down by Biden because she thinks his administration has been too quiet on social justice issues stemming from the protests against police violence in 2020. But seeing her mother’s student loan forgiven before Biden’s initial plan was struck down was a relief and something she considers a bright spot for the administration, so she plans to vote for Biden in the primary.

A 22-year-old senior at South Carolina State, Wrighten also expressed a frustration shared by most younger voters interviewed — that Biden decided to run for reelection rather than make way for a new generation of Democrats.

“This is something we’ve worked up to for 18 years and kind of finally being able to exercise this, and you’re like, ‘This is what I’m left with right now?’” she said.

STUDENT LOANS, ECONOMY

Biden’s faltering attempts to push a broad plan for student loan forgiveness and his handling of the economy came up repeatedly as top-of-mind issues in interviews with more than a dozen voters.

Sheridan Johnson cast an early vote for Biden in Columbia. She applauded the fact that his administration reduced some loans, but is hoping for more.

“I’m waiting for that to pass because I really need some student loans forgiven,” said Johnson, 53.

Biden’s initial plan was struck down by the Supreme Court. The administration then developed a repayment plan set to take effect this month. Under it, borrowers won’t see interest pile up as long as they make regular payments.

Inflation remains a major concern. While price hikes have cooled in recent months and the economy is growing, that has not had a significant trickle-down effect on Americans’ outlook or benefited Biden.

Laverne Brown, a 69-year-old retiree in Columbia, said Biden needs clear messaging to show voters what he has done to improve the economy and what more he would do if given a second term.

“As an American citizen, the message that would make me feel really good is knowing that there’s continued concern for the working people, the people that have really put in … years of working and now are living on a lower income,” she said.

She noted that some in the city don’t have access to grocery stores within a reasonable distance, which adds to their financial strains.

TOO OLD?

Age concerns came up frequently in the interviews, and not just among younger voters.

Polling has consistently shown a broad lack of excitement about the prospects for a Biden-Trump rematch. The age of the candidates — Biden is 81, and Trump 77 — is among the top concerns.

An August AP-NORC poll found that 77% of U.S. adults, including 63% of Black adults, said they believe Biden is too old to effectively serve another term as president.

“They’re as old as I am, and to have these two guys be the only choices, that’s kind of difficult,” said Charles Trower, a 77-year-old from Blythewood, South Carolina. “But I would much rather have President Biden than even consider the other guy.”

Trower, a veteran, said Biden has implemented changes that improved the quality of life for veterans.

Joshua Singleton, a 19-year-old sophomore at South Carolina State, shared the sentiment: “We should have, you know, younger presidents to represent us.”

VOTING RIGHTS, ABORTION, OVERDOSES

Some of the nation’s most divisive and personal issues — voting rights, abortion and the overdose epidemic — also were among the top talking points for many of the Black voters interviewed.

Several noted the failure of Democrats to pass voting rights legislation during the first two years of Biden’s presidency as a response to restrictive laws passed by several Republican-controlled states. Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate was not enough to overcome Republican procedural moves to prevent the legislation from moving forward.

“The ability to protect voting rights needs to be expanded,” said Seth Whipper, 74, a former Democratic state representative who was contacted last week by voting rights activists during a community canvassing event in Charleston. “Every state in the nation, every territory should be subject to the Voting Rights Act. It’s just that important.”

Biden and Harris have been focusing on the stakes for abortion rights in this year’s election, a message that appeared to resonate with voters. Several wanted to know what a second Biden administration plans to do to protect reproductive rights.

“I’m a strong believer in women’s rights. I have a wife. I have a daughter,” said Tony Thomas, who is 71 and cast his ballot at an early voting site in Columbia. “I believe they should have a right not to have the government interfere in their lives.”

Fentanyl, which along with other synthetic opioids is the leading culprit in an overdose crisis killing Americans at a record rate, concerns Saundra Trower, a 75-year-old from Blythewood, just outside the state capital.

She wants Biden to continue trying to fix it and figure out how fentanyl is flooding the country and why so many people are addicted.

“That’s the biggest thing for me,” she said. “There are too many young people and even middle-aged people who are dying from fentanyl.”

STICKING WITH BIDEN

The voters interviewed were among the most engaged Democrats in the state, taking advantage of early voting opportunities or helping to register and persuade others to get to the polls. Many said they generally supported Biden and would vote for him in the primary and November’s general election, driven by a sense that he was trying to address their concerns.

They pointed to strides he has made in diversifying the federal judiciary and government agencies, funneling more funding to historically Black colleges and universities, and taking steps to reduce unemployment.

Many also said they recognize that Biden can’t make everything happen on his own, given the divided power and deep polarization in Congress.

Austin Nichols, a 28-year-old lawyer in Columbia, said Biden is pushing the country in the right direction, particularly in addressing such things as racial discrimination in housing.

“One thing that I appreciate that directly impacts me are reforms and new rules into governing race discrimination when it comes to home property values and getting appraisals, and the inherent biases that are in there,” Nichols said.

In his view, Biden is a president “for the people, and not for self-interest.”

LaJoia Broughton, a 42-year-old small-business owner in Columbia, voted for Biden in 2020 and said she will do so again this year, citing reasons both local and national: his administration providing more opportunities for Black-owned businesses, and what she sees as a threat to the nation’s foundational governing principles under a second Trump presidency.

“We can’t live with a leader that will make this into a dictatorship. We can’t live in a place that is not a democracy. That will be a fall for America,” Broughton said. “So my vote is with Biden. It has been with Biden and will continue to be with Biden.”

But several of those interviewed also acknowledged that it could be difficult to motivate voters who don’t always show up the polls, especially those who have seen little change in their circumstances.

The Rev. Dr. Byron L. Benton, pastor of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, said that is particularly true for those who haven’t seen much improvement in their lives, no matter who was president.

Biden has had extensive outreach to the state in an effort to maintain his bond with its Black electorate. He recently spoke at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where in 2015 nine Black parishioners were gunned down by a white assailant they had invited to join their Bible study.

To Benton, it seems that Biden is connecting more directly with Black churches this time than even during his campaign four years ago.

“At the end of the day, whether you are excited or have no excitement, what I’m still hearing is based on what’s present,” he said. “The candidate that the majority of African Americans are going to vote for is still President Joseph Biden.”

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Emily Swanson, the Associated Press’ director of public opinion research, contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press’s coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Trump officials’ meeting with Russian in Miami spurs questions about latest Ukraine proposal

Published

2 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

Trump officials’ meeting with Russian in Miami spurs questions about latest Ukraine proposal

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – U.S. officials and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about a meeting last month in which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The meeting took place in Miami at the end of October and included special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of Russia’s largest sovereign wealth funds.

A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitriev has taken a leading role in talks with the U.S. about the war and has met with Witkoff several times this year. The Trump administration has issued a special waiver to allow his entry, one senior U.S. official told Reuters.

Dmitriev and his fund were blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions effectively bar American citizens and companies from dealing with them.

The meeting resulted in a 28-point plan for ending the war, two people familiar with the situation said. The plan, which was made public earlier this week by Axios, came as a surprise to U.S. officials in various corners of the administration and has stirred confusion at embassies throughout Washington and in European capitals.

It has also prompted criticism from the Ukrainians and their allies for appearing heavily tilted toward Russian interests, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowing on Friday that he would not betray Ukraine’s interests.

The document, which calls for major concessions from Ukraine, appears to run counter to the tougher stance the Trump administration has lately taken toward Moscow, including with sanctions on its energy sector.

It’s unclear whether Dmitriev came to the meeting in Miami with certain Russian demands and whether those were incorporated into the peace plan.

Two people familiar with the meeting said Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, was also in Miami early this week to discuss the plan with Witkoff.

One source familiar with the situation said that Witkoff told Umerov about the plan during that visit and that the United States gave the plan to Ukraine via the Turkish government on Wednesday, before directly presenting it in Kyiv on Thursday.

Umerov has described his role as “technical” and denied that he discussed the plan in substance with U.S. officials.

Dmitriev and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that any peace plan “must offer security guarantees and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe and Russia” and offer economic incentives to both Ukraine and Russia.

“This plan was crafted to reflect the realities of the situation, and to find the best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give,” she said.

Trump said on Friday that he expected Zelenskiy to sign onto the plan by the Thanksgiving holiday. The U.S. has warned Ukraine it could curb military assistance if it does not sign, Reuters has reported.

SOME OFFICIALS CAUGHT OFF GUARD

Many senior officials inside the State Department and on the National Security Council were not briefed, the two people familiar with the plan said. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who had been working with the Ukrainians on negotiating an end to the war and plans to step down in January, also was cut out of the talks led by Witkoff and Dmitriev, they said.

One senior U.S. official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was read in on the 28-point plan, but didn’t clarify when he was briefed.

“Secretary Rubio has been closely involved throughout the entire process of developing a plan to end the war in Ukraine. Any insinuation otherwise is completely false. That includes speaking with both sides of this conflict – many times – to facilitate the…exchange of ideas to establish a durable peace,” said State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott in a statement.

U.S. officials and others consulted by Reuters disputed that characterization.

“There was no coordination, no one at State had seen this, not Rubio,” another U.S. official said. The official added that the plan contains material that the secretary of state had previously rejected.

Item 1 of 3 Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev, talks to U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia April 11, 2025. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

[1/3]Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev, talks to U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia April 11, 2025. Sputnik/Vyacheslav… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

The situation has sparked worries inside the administration and on Capitol Hill that Witkoff and Kushner skirted the interagency process and that the discussions with Dmitriev have resulted in a plan that favors Russian interests.

It includes demands that Russia has previously made – that Ukraine give up some of its territory in the eastern part of the country that it still controls, recognize Crimea as Russian and pledge not to join NATO.

“This so-called ‘peace plan’ has real problems, and I am highly skeptical it will achieve peace,” said Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin.”

Experts also criticized the proposed deal.

“Putin said today the plan he saw is a ‘basis’ for a future agreement — likely a signal they plan on asking for inclusions and revisions on top of what is already a disadvantageous proposal for Kyiv,” said Dara Massicot of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “One week seems ambitious for resolution.”

CONCERNS ABOUT DMITRIEV

The administration’s discussions with Dmitriev have also worried some inside the intelligence community, one U.S. official familiar with the matter said.

Dmitriev has previously used his role at RDIF to make inroads with various Western governments and businesses, even amid American sanctions.

The CIA declined to comment about concerns within the intelligence community about Dmitriev.

During the first Trump administration, Dmitriev established contacts with the president’s team to reset relations between Washington and Moscow.

In a 2017 meeting with Erik Prince, the former CEO of Blackwater and a Trump ally, Dmitriev discussed U.S.-Russia relations, according to a Department of Justice report published by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2019. Mueller’s team was investigating ties between the Trump team and Russia.

In a separate meeting with a friend of Kushner’s, Dmitriev drafted a reconciliation plan to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Russia, the report says.

The Mueller team said in its report that it did not establish that the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

Dmitriev also worked directly with Kushner during the first administration. During the pandemic, Dmitriev coordinated with Kushner on the delivery of ventilators to the U.S. The ventilators were provided by RDIF and caused concern among officials at the Treasury Department that the U.S. might be violating its own sanctions, according to a senior U.S. official.

In recent years, Dmitriev has appeared on various American television stations and at events like the World Economic Forum in Davos, to promote the strengthening of trade ties between the U.S. and Russia.

He pushed a similar message at the meeting in Miami, according to public readouts of the meeting.

His visit also included a sit-down with U.S. Representative Anna Luna, a Florida Republican. In the meeting, Dmitriev and Luna spoke about increasing trade ties between the U.S. and Russia. Rep. Luna’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The meeting between the two was set earlier in the month amid statements by Luna that she had received Russia’s JFK files.

In a video by RIA, one of Russia’s state news agencies, Luna is seen accepting a box of chocolates with Putin’s face inscribed on the front.

The images appear to show Luna and Dmitriev in a conference room at the Faena Hotel in Miami.

The Faena Hotel is owned by Access Industries, a company run by Len Blavatnik, a Russian billionaire, according to the company’s website. Blavatnik made his money partnering with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Putin. Witkoff’s company, the Witkoff Group, does business with Blavatnik, including in Miami.

(This story has been corrected to fix the reference to Umerov as Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, not defense minister, in paragraph 9)

Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv and Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft

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Erin Banco is a national security correspondent focusing on the intelligence community. She covers everything from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to U.S. covert operations overseas. She previously worked at POLITICO as a national security reporter.
Banco has a long history covering the Middle East region, from Cairo to Baghdad to Aleppo where she’s reported on the Arab Spring and its aftermath, including the civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS. Her 2017 book, Pipe Dreams, focuses on the development of the oil and gas industry in the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq. Banco attended The University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in Arabic and journalism. She earned a master’s in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 2014.

Gram Slattery is a White House correspondent in Washington, focusing on national security, intelligence and foreign affairs. He was previously a national political correspondent, covering the 2024 presidential campaign. From 2015 to 2022, he held postings in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago, Chile, and he has reported extensively throughout Latin America.

World

Number of children abducted from Catholic school in Nigeria explodes to over 300

Published

4 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

Number of children abducted from Catholic school in Nigeria explodes to over 300

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Gunmen abducted 303 children and 12 teachers in an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in Nigeria. Initial reports indicated that at least 52 had been kidnapped before the tally was increased to over 200 children and then to its final count of 303.

Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna said in a statement that the total number of kidnapped was determined “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to The Associated Press. Yohanna is the chairman of the Niger state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), who visited the school on Friday. The AP noted that the students who were kidnapped were male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.

GUNMEN ATTACK CHURCH IN NIGERIA, KILLING TWO AND KIDNAPPING OTHERS

In this photo released by the Christian Association of Nigeria, a man walks past belongings at the St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School after gunmen abducted children and staff in Papiri community in Nigeria on Nov. 21, 2025. (Christian Association of Nigeria via AP)

No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, according to the AP. The outlet added that authorities said tactical squads and local hunters were working to rescue the kidnapped children.

After the attack, the state government said that St. Mary’s School reopened despite warnings of increased threats. However, Yohanna denied this claim, the AP reported.

“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, according to the AP.

This photo released by the Christian Association of Nigeria shows the dormitories of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School after gunmen abducted children and staff in Papiri community in Nigeria on Nov. 21, 2025. (Christian Association of Nigeria via AP)

RAP STAR NICKI MINAJ THANKS TRUMP FOR ADDRESSING PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA

The attack at St. Mary’s follows a similar incident earlier this week in which armed attackers kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State and killed at least one staffer. The search for the abducted schoolgirls is still underway.

A woman looks on as she walks past a classroom in Shehu Kangiwa Model Primary School in Argungu, Kebbi State, in northern Nigeria on April 12, 2025. (Leslie Fauvel / AFP via Getty Images)

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Nigeria has seen a series of attacks on Christians and their institutions, prompting President Donald Trump to declare the West African nation a “country of particular concern.” However, the Nigerian government has disputed the U.S.’s claims.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz held an event highlighting the ongoing violence in Nigeria. During the event, Waltz called the killings of Christians in Nigeria “genocide wearing the mask of chaos.” He was joined by rap superstar Nicki Minaj, who called for religious freedom for all.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

World

Brazil’s Bolsonaro arrested days before start of 27-year prison sentence

Published

6 hours ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

Brazil’s Bolsonaro arrested days before start of 27-year prison sentence

The former president is taken in the capital Brasilia days before starting his prison time for leading coup attempt.

Published On 22 Nov 2025

Brazil’s federal police have arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, according to his lawyer and a close aide.

Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest since August, was transferred to detention on Saturday, his lawyer said.

Sentenced for coup attempt

The 70-year-old former president was taken from his house in a gated community in the upscale Jardim Botanico neighbourhood to the federal police headquarters, Cirino said.

Local media reported that Bolsonaro, who was Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was expected to begin serving his sentence sometime next week after the far-right leader exhausted all appeals of his conviction for leading a coup attempt.

The 70-year-old Bolsonaro’s legal team had previously argued that he should serve his 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid in 2022 at home, arguing imprisonment would pose a risk to his health.

Bolsonaro was convicted in September over his bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power following the 2022 election, which he lost.

The effort saw crowds of rioters storm government buildings a week after Lula’s inauguration, evoking comparisons with the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol after his close ally, President Donald Trump, lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Trump has branded the prosecution of his far-right ally a “witch-hunt” and made it a major issue in US relations with Brazil, imposing stiff tariffs on the country as a form of retribution.

Trump and Lula held what Brazil described as a constructive meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur last month, raising hope for improved relations after stinging US tariffs.

Lula said the meeting with Trump was “great” and added that their countries’ negotiating teams would get to work “immediately” to tackle tariffs and other issues.