Joe Biden made a rare public appearance Friday in South Carolina, greeting Democrats who helped revive his 2020 presidential campaign.
Despite criticism over his failed second-term bid and Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the audience treated him as a political hero. “Thank you,” Biden said to cheers as Rep. Jim Clyburn, his longtime ally, welcomed him onstage at an art museum in downtown Columbia. “It’s good to be back home.”
Biden criticized Trump in his remarks, accusing him of “trying to steal the election, because he knows he can’t win your vote.” “Mark my words,” Biden added. “I hope I’m wrong.” The event, held on a rainy night by the state Democratic Party, marked the sixth anniversary of Biden’s pivotal South Carolina primary win that propelled his stalled nomination to the front of the field.
Since leaving office, Biden has mostly stayed out of the public eye. His appearance in South Carolina followed a difficult stretch: Trump has rolled back many of Biden’s policies, and the 83-year-old former president disclosed in May a prostate cancer diagnosis that has spread to his bone; in October a spokesperson said he had been receiving radiation and hormone therapy.
Biden has long called South Carolina a second home after his native Delaware. He and his family have vacationed on Kiawah Island near Charleston, and he spent time there after his son Beau’s death from cancer. “Folks, when it mattered, you were there for me,” Biden said. “You believed in me … and I believed in you, too.”
As a U.S. senator, Biden forged relationships with the state’s long-serving senators—Republican Strom Thurmond and Democrat Fritz Hollings—and delivered eulogies for both. In January 2025, he spent his final full day in office in Charleston, urging Americans to “keep the faith in a better day to come” as Trump prepared to return to the White House.
Biden’s bond with Clyburn proved particularly influential; Clyburn’s endorsement just before South Carolina’s 2020 primary is widely credited with signaling support to Black voters central to the state’s Democratic electorate. “My buddy Jim Clyburn, you brought me back!” Biden said. Clyburn, introducing Biden, said he had no regrets about that endorsement. “There is no American ever who has demonstrated through his service more substance and, I might add, sustenance, than Joe Robinette Biden Jr.,” he said.
During his presidency, Biden elevated South Carolina’s profile—pushing to make it the first primary state and naming Orangeburg native Jaime Harrison as chair of the Democratic National Committee. Now, South Carolina Democrats face a crossroads as the national party reconsiders the primary calendar, which could reduce the state’s influence.
Christale Spain, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, defended the state’s role, saying its backing of Biden in 2020 helped defeat Trump. “South Carolina did what South Carolina does best,” Spain said. Biden drew laughter as he joked about Trump’s lengthy State of the Union address: “Did you see Trump give the State of the Union the other night? He still talking?”
