Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., says he would vote to kick fellow Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan out of the House Democratic Caucus, a stunning break from a lawmaker he once mentored and endorsed.
Clyburn made the admission during an interview on Politico’s “The Conversation with Dasha Burns” that aired Friday. When Burns asked how he felt about House Democrats weighing Stevens’ expulsion, Clyburn said that if a resolution came up for a vote, “I think I would vote for that.”
The answer caught the host off guard. Burns replied with a simple “wow” before asking him to explain.
Stevens sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party less than 48 hours before Election Day when she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Stevens had lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, and the endorsement followed unsuccessful efforts to pressure El-Sayed to walk back his past criticism of Israel.
The backlash was swift. Lawmakers across the country issued statements condemning her, and the Michigan Democratic Party’s chair declared that Stevens is not a current member of the state party and will not be in the future. She was reportedly removed from House Democrats’ text chains, and a large share of her staff resigned, including her former communications director.
Clyburn’s position is especially notable given his history with Stevens. The South Carolina Democrat endorsed her Senate bid in July and had been scheduled to appear with both Stevens and El-Sayed at a Detroit church in an effort to unify the party and mobilize Black voters before Election Day. That plan fell apart when El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens not to appear at any of his events.
During the Politico interview, Clyburn compared the hostility El-Sayed faced on the campaign trail to the struggles of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., citing Lewis’ beating on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He also pointed to El-Sayed’s opportunity to become the first Muslim elected to the Senate.
El-Sayed went on to defeat Rogers on Tuesday.
House Democratic Caucus rules bar members from campaigning for any candidate in a partisan federal election who is not a Democrat. Expelling a member requires a two-thirds vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said earlier this week that Stevens made a terrible decision, blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the caucus, and that Democrats would discuss next steps when they return to Washington. Some progressive lawmakers, including Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., have already called for her removal, and others have urged Jeffries to strip Stevens of her committee assignments.
Still, most rank-and-file Democrats have stopped short of publicly demanding her expulsion. Stevens is set to leave Congress in January.
The fight is the latest sign of turmoil inside the Democratic Party even as it celebrates retaking both chambers of Congress, with the divide over Israel continuing to cut through the party’s ranks.
