Congressman James Clyburn came to Memphis with a history lesson, a little political wisdom and a reminder of what political representation is supposed to accomplish.
The South Carolina Democrat, whose influence helped propel Joe Biden toward the presidency in 2020, spent Wednesday, Oct. 28, lending his political stature to two congressional hopefuls — Chaz Molder and state Rep. Justin J. Pearson — as Memphis voters cast ballots in their first general election under newly redrawn congressional boundaries.
Clyburn joined Molder at LeMoyne-Owen College for a conversation with students and others about voting rights, political accountability and federal support for historically Black colleges and universities. But first, he offered a reality check: Voting alone won’t bring change overnight. It determines who gets a seat at the table when decisions are made and whose concerns get heard.
“When you vote, it doesn’t mean that the next morning the thing you vote for is gonna occur,” Clyburn told the audience. “No, you voted to get people to the table.”
“Your issues cannot be dealt with unless they’re put on the table,” he continued. “So you need a representative that will bring it to the table.”
Later Wednesday afternoon, Clyburn headed to Southeast Memphis, where he rallied supporters at Pearson’s campaign headquarters ahead of a get-out-the-vote phone bank. He and Molder are seeking congressional seats in two of three separate districts that now encompass portions of Memphis. The third is District 8, where Democrat Heidi Kuhn is running against incumbent Republican David Kustoff.
The appearances brought one of the Democratic Party’s most influential veterans to Memphis in the final days of a campaign that has drawn national attention following Republican-led redistricting that divided the city among three congressional districts with GOP majorities.
For Molder, the 43-year-old mayor of Columbia, Tenn., seeking to represent the newly configured 5th Congressional District, Clyburn’s presence carried particular significance.
“We’ve been trying to get him to Memphis for a long time,” Molder said near the end of the discussion. “The fact that he is in Memphis, Tennessee, on basically the last two days of early voting … I think that speaks highly of what we’re about to accomplish in this election.”
Divided districts, energized voters?
The visit came as Shelby County voters continued turning out in substantial numbers. Through Tuesday, Oct. 27, 141,359 early and absentee ballots had been cast in the county, nearly 59% more than at the comparable point in the 2022 midterms, although still about 7% behind the 2018 pace.
Whether that enthusiasm translates into victories for Democrats remains to be seen. Molder, however, believes Republican lawmakers may have underestimated the reaction to their decision to split Memphis among three congressional districts.
“What the legislature did not envision is that their actions of trying to divide the vote in Memphis, Tennessee, actually is having the result that they have multiplied the vote in Memphis, Tennessee,” Molder said.
He credited young voters, in particular, with recognizing what he described as an effort to diminish the city’s political influence.
The new 5th District stretches from portions of Memphis through rural West Tennessee into Middle Tennessee. Molder faces Republican Charlie Hatcher, a former state agriculture commissioner who defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the August primary.
Watch Clyburn and Molder address Democratic leaders during a luncheon at The Four Way Restaurant on Mississippi Boulevard:
Three A’s: Accessibility, affordability, accountability
Clyburn’s message was not limited to getting voters to the polls. He challenged them to evaluate political candidates according to three principles: accessibility, affordability and accountability.
“What we have to do is make government services accessible … to everybody,” he said, pointing to health care and education.
Affordability, he continued, means addressing the cost of essentials such as housing and energy. Accountability means making elected officials answer to the people they serve.
“The problem in Washington today is the problem of those three things: accessibility, affordability, and accountability,” Clyburn said.
He offered a straightforward test for voters evaluating candidates.
“If somebody ain’t showing up in your community, you shouldn’t be voting for them,” he said. “No matter what they say, because we learn in the scripture … it’s not their words, but it’s their deeds.”
Molder responded with a commitment to establish a congressional office in Memphis if elected, even though the district extends far beyond the city, adding that his constituent services operation would assist Memphis residents even when their homes fall outside the boundaries of the 5th District.
“Even though they drew Memphis into three separate maps, when someone comes to our office, if they are in the city of Memphis, we’re gonna be a voice,” Molder said. “We’re gonna help anyone from Memphis, Tennessee, because Memphis deserves that.”
A second stop, another congressional hopeful
Later, Clyburn carried his message to Southeast Memphis, where Pearson’s congressional campaign workers were preparing for an evening of voter outreach. Pearson is running against Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor of Eads in the Nov. 3 election.
Speaking to supporters at Pearson’s campaign headquarters before a scheduled phone bank, Clyburn made clear that his appearance was more than a ceremonial show of support.
“I’m here today because I really think you can win this,” he told those gathered.
Clyburn also recalled his relationship with Pearson, including conversations following Pearson’s 2023 expulsion from the Tennessee House following a gun reform protest.
“I met Justin some years back. I don’t remember exactly when. But when I met him, I knew I was meeting somebody special,” Clyburn said.
Pearson thanked Clyburn for his support, noting that the veteran congressman was among those who spoke out when he and another lawmaker were expelled from the Legislature.
“That is somebody who understands the history of this country, not from a book, but from their lived experience,” Pearson said.
Watch: U.S. Rep. James Clyburn and state Rep. Justin J. Pearson address supporters during a campaign gathering in Southeast Memphis.
A commitment to HBCUs
The setting for Wednesday’s morning conversation was significant for reasons extending beyond electoral politics.
LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis’ only historically Black college, was founded in a tradition of expanding educational opportunities for African Americans. Its president, Christopher Davis, moderated the discussion, pressing both men on what federal leadership could mean for institutions such as LeMoyne-Owen.
Clyburn, a graduate of South Carolina State University, has long championed federal support for HBCUs, particularly efforts to restore historic campus buildings.
“What we have to do is fund the stuff,” Clyburn said. “And you gotta get people elected to office committed to getting the funds for this stuff.”
Molder acknowledged that bringing Clyburn to LeMoyne-Owen was partly about introducing the veteran lawmaker to an institution that could benefit from federal assistance.
“Secretly, one of the reasons I wanted to get Congressman Clyburn on this campus today [is] because I think there’s some assistance that perhaps we can get from the federal government to LeMoyne-Owen College,” he said.
Making headway, not headlines
For Clyburn, effective leadership isn’t necessarily about making the loudest argument. Sometimes, he suggested, it’s about finding a way to get things done.
He illustrated the point with his 10-20-30 initiative, which directs a portion of certain federal investments toward communities struggling with persistent poverty. Clyburn recalled explaining the program to a white woman who, after hearing its goals, remarked that it sounded like reparations.
“I said, ‘So?'” Clyburn recalled.
The woman accepted the program’s premise, he said, but would never have supported something explicitly labeled reparations. To Clyburn, the distinction demonstrated how political language can sometimes get in the way of meaningful results and how programs can be renamed and repackaged if it means making progress.
His approach isn’t flashy, but it gets results, he said.
“Are you trying to get resources into these low-income communities, or do you wanna make a headline?” he asked. “My purpose is to make headway. If you’re looking for somebody to make headlines, keep going on to the next office. Because I wanna make headway.”
He returned to that theme as the conversation drew to a close, this time drawing on the Book of James to explain why public service requires more than good intentions.
“If your brother or sister comes to you hungry or naked, it’s not enough just to pray for them,” Clyburn said. “You got to feed them and you got to clothe them.”
And as several audience members joined in, Clyburn delivered the familiar biblical refrain:
“Faith without works is dead,” Clyburn said. “You pray, but you work.”
Later, Pearson made the case much more explicit.
“All that is going to matter is how much work do we put in,” Pearson said. “Did we knock on enough doors? Did we make enough phone calls?”
Watch the full LeMoyne-Owen conversation with LOC President Christopher Davis, Clyburn and Molder here:
