Biden's failing to excite Black Democrats in South Carolina

CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Hannibal’s Kitchen is an essential stop for Democrats looking to campaign in the Palmetto state.

Politicians flock to the well-known family-owned soul food restaurant, including President Joe Biden, who visited just two weeks ago. So as Biden surrogates spent the final days trying to gin up excitement for Saturday’s primary, it made sense they'd swing by the storied institution where photographs of Pharrell Williams, Angela Bassett, Danny Glover and Hillary Clinton adorn the walls.

But as Austin Davis, Pennsylvania’s first Black lieutenant governor asked the patrons “to send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House,” he received only a muted response.

A group of about 16 white Danish political tourists, dining on platters of crab rice and smothered turkey wings, listened inquisitively but stayed focused on their meal. The only hoots came from local Democratic operatives in attendance.

Getting voters jazzed has proven challenging for South Carolina Democrats in the lead up to Saturday's election. And that, in turn, could be a problem for the Biden campaign, which is banking on a strong showing among the state’s Black electorate to quiet the chorus of concerns that he has an enthusiasm problem with the party’s most loyal voting bloc.

Officials with the party spent the closing days crisscrossing the state engaging Black voters. But turnout at some of these events was sparse, with many of them attended by party officials. Of the Black voters outside of party-backed events, few seem excited or even aware of the coming election. It’s not just because they’re unenthused about Biden, it's that they don’t see the primary as much of a contest at all.

“It’s not a competitive election,” said