Wilson and Hastings had previously endorsed Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who suspended her presidential campaign last month, while Payne originally backed home-state Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who dropped out of the race last week.

The batch of additional support for Biden comes less than two weeks before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. Biden is among the group of four front-runners who are closely bunched at the top of public polling in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Biden has a slightly larger advantage over his rivals in Nevada, a more diverse state that caucuses after New Hampshire, and a double-digit lead over his closest competitor in South Carolina, whose primary is at the end of February and where black voters make up roughly 60 percent of the electorate.

“He’s always been there for our communities,” Payne said. “There is too much at stake in this election and we need someone like Joe Biden, who from Day One will make the needs of working families the centerpiece of his administration.”

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Biden allies expect momentum from a dominant performance in South Carolina to carry him through Super Tuesday en route to securing the Democratic nomination for president.

The four members who endorsed Biden each represent states that vote beyond Super Tuesday, March 3: Florida’s primary is March 17, Georgia’s is March 24 and New Jersey’s is June 2.

Before Harris ended her White House bid, the battle to secure the most endorsements from black members of Congress was a two-person race between her and Biden. Harris announced her 11th endorsement in November. Booker’s two CBC endorsements came from African American members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation.

Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, the sole black candidate left, has no endorsements from the CBC, while Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Mayors Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and Mike Bloomberg of New York each have one.

