18:54

Influential South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn said he initially resisted making an endorsement in the Democratic primary but was eventually worn down by his wife, Emily. The South Carolina Democrat endorsed Hillary Clinton last week, just days before the state’s Saturday primary.



“When your wife of 54 years says ‘I’m getting phone calls, people are talking to me in the beauty shops, they’re stopping me in the grocery stores, people want to hear from you and I want to hear from you myself,’ so I thought I’d wait for as long as I could,” said Clyburn, on a conference call organized by the Clinton campaign.

“Between my head and my heart my head was staying neutral but my heart was always for Hillary,” he said.



On the call, Clyburn also defended his decision to endorse Clinton this time around when he notably refused to make an endorsement in 2008.



Clyburn said at the time the state was working to secure a “first in the south” primary spot and he did not want to do anything that would jeopardize that opportunity. The state did secure that position, along with Nevada, which hosted the party’s caucus after Iowa and New Hampshire.

