Rep. James E. Clyburn

James E. Clyburn represents South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and currently serves as Ranking Member on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and as Chairman of the Democratic Faith Working Group.

A native of Sumter, South Carolina, Clyburn was raised as the eldest son of an activist minister and a civic-minded beautician — an upbringing rooted in family, faith, and public service. A 1961 graduate of South Carolina State University, he began his career as a public-school teacher in Charleston before serving as an employment counselor and director of two youth and community development programs. In 1971, he joined the staff of Governor John C. West as the first African American advisor to a South Carolina governor, and in 1974 was appointed South Carolina Human Affairs Commissioner, a post he held until 1992, when he left state government to run for Congress.

Elected to Congress in 1993, Clyburn was chosen co-president of his freshman class and went on to serve as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. He served as House Majority Whip from 2007 to 2010 and again from 2019 to 2022 — becoming the first African American to serve multiple terms in that role — and as Assistant Democratic Leader from 2011 to 2018 and 2023 to 2024. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he chaired the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

Clyburn has championed landmark preservation efforts on the campuses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and sponsored legislation creating the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor, the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Congaree National Park, and the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, among others. His policy legacy includes the 10-20-30 federal funding formula — now applied to 15 appropriations accounts — designed to direct investment to persistently impoverished communities; the Rural Energy Savings Program; and the Accessible, Affordable Broadband for All initiative, funded at $65 billion in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

The recipient of 39 honorary degrees, Rep. Clyburn has been honored with the Lyndon Baines Johnson Liberty and Justice for All Award (2015), the Harry S. Truman Foundation’s Good Neighbor Award (2021), the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal (2022), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2024).

Rep. Clyburn’s new book is The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation, published in 2025.