Clyburn doesn’t plan to formally announce his endorsement until Wednesday, the day after the debate, but Democratic officials familiar with his planning say he intends to endorse Biden.

Clyburn represents the largely black precincts in and near Columbia and Charleston, and he is considered the most powerful Democrat in the state. Here’s our national political correspondent Jonathan Martin, with his breakdown of what the news will mean for Biden:

Clyburn’s support could not come at a better time for Biden. Not only is the former vice president under immense pressure to win South Carolina, a state he has long portrayed as his firewall, but he must also demonstrate to the other Democrats in the race that he is the preferred candidate of African-American voters. Clyburn’s endorsement could help on both fronts, helping to hand Biden a much-needed victory before Super Tuesday that would come in part thanks to the support of South Carolina’s black voters. Over half of the primary electorate on Saturday is expected to be African-American, and if Biden performs well with such voters it could bode well for his chances in other Southern states voting on Super Tuesday: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas.

Buttigieg tries to fight for $15, but gets a fight over his record instead.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Pete Buttigieg joined scores of workers in Charleston on Monday who were demanding a $15 minimum wage and better working conditions, but he was confronted at the protest by a group of black women who said he was not workers’ best choice, and many residents who lived near the protest said they either hadn’t heard of him or favored other candidates.

Buttigieg joined the chanting group of mostly black protesters as they moved toward a local McDonald’s where some of them worked, and he helped to hold a large banner that read, “Unions for All.” But as the group marched through the McDonald’s drive-thru, about a dozen black women confronted Buttigieg, saying that he had not done enough for workers as the mayor of South Bend, Ind.

“Pete can’t be our president. Where was $15 in South Bend?” chanted the women, who were members of the Black Youth Project 100, a national group that supports progressive candidates and whose members came to Charleston to advocate for a higher minimum wage.

Buttigieg responded only as he hustled to his black S.U.V. Jamecia Gray, one of the Black Youth Project organizers, said he told her as he left that he supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15, including for disabled workers and those who work for tips.

“He’s flipped on that issue more than once, and what I want and what our people want is for him to create white pages and real policies to really change the structural barriers to hold corporations like McDonald’s accountable so every American person can live in this country,” said Gray, who traveled from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.