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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hugs Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), left. before she spoke to a crowd at the Jim Clyburn Fish Fry, on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. | AP Photo Clyburn: Sanders never asked for my endorsement

Rep. Jim Clyburn had always planned to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary on Saturday, the South Carolina Democrat said Tuesday. But Bernie Sanders never asked him for his endorsement after speaking with him "several times" during the course of his campaign.

Explaining his choice for Clinton, Clyburn recounted that he and Sanders had met in Washington last year before the Vermont senator had officially announced his run, "and I wished him well," he said. Clyburn said that he had "talked to him several times" after that.

“But he never asked me for an endorsement, and so, I never considered giving one," Clyburn told reporters on a call organized by the Clinton campaign. "The debate I was having was between my head and my heart. My head was staying neutral and my heart was telling me, was always with Hillary. That was who I was going to vote for from day one. I just decided to make it public about 10 days before the primary. But he never asked me for an endorsement, and I never considered endorsing him.”

Clyburn also dismissed the notion from Sanders last week after he suggested that Clinton was playing up her connections to the first African-American president in Barack Obama in an attempt to curry favor with the state's influential and important electorate.

“Well I’ve only heard the accusation coming from Senator Sanders," he said, going on to say that people are not only often condemned for reaching out and accused of pandering to the African-American community but also for failing to speak to the community. "I just believe that people have to follow their heart. And I don’t know how you can look at Ms. Clinton’s history — she was not running for president in the 1970s when she came to South Carolina," he said, noting her work in the state.

"Who was she pandering to back then?" he asked, noting that it was before "Obama was a teenager."

Clyburn announced his endorsement of Clinton last Friday, calling her the candidate who is best-qualified to tackle a range of issues.