Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillicon Valley: FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden | Treasury Dept. sanctions Iranian government-backed hackers The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden MORE’s most prominent African American supporter in South Carolina is defending her against accusations by Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersMcConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence MORE that she’s pandering to the black community for votes.

In a press call with reporters on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, pushed back against Sanders’ claim that Clinton is embracing President Obama as a means of cozying up to black voters.

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Clyburn said Clinton has long been committed to causes important to African Americans, noting that in the 1970s, Clinton advocated on behalf of minority children and for improving prison conditions for black inmates in states in the Deep South.

“Who was she pandering to back then in the 1970s when she was down here around the time before Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Don't expect a government check anytime soon Trump appointees stymie recommendations to boost minority voting: report Obama's first presidential memoir, 'A Promised Land,' set for November release MORE was a teenager?” Clyburn asked. “She certainly wasn’t pandering to Obama, or anyone else for that matter. I understand political rhetoric; I’ve engaged in it myself. But that account doesn’t hold water.”

Clyburn’s endorsement was a coup for Clinton in South Carolina, where Democrat primary voters will head to the polls on Saturday.

Clinton is the heavy favorite and expected to rack up big margins against Sanders among minority voters, a group with which Sanders has struggled to make inroads.

Clyburn did not endorse a candidate in 2008 when Clinton faced Obama – former President Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonD-Day for Trump: September 29 Trump job approval locked at 42 percent: Gallup If Trump doesn't know why he should be president again, how can voters? MORE later blamed Clyburn for his wife’s drubbing in the state’s primary.

This time around, Clyburn’s only tough decision was whether to go public with his endorsement for Clinton before the primary, he said Tuesday.

“The debate I was having was between my head and my heart. My head was staying neutral, and my heart was always with Hillary Clinton, so that’s who I was gong to vote for from day one,” he said. “I just decided to make it public.”

“[Sanders] never asked me for an endorsement, and I never considered it,” Clyburn said.