Rep. Jim Clyburn to step down from House Democratic leadership post

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., announced Wednesday that he’s stepping down from his Democratic leadership position in the House, while a protégé signaled a desire to succeed him.

“I have informed Leader Hakeem Jeffries of my intention to step down as Assistant Democratic Leader of the House Democratic Caucus,” Clyburn, 83, said in a statement.

“I am confident that Leader Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, and the entire leadership team will continue the important work of putting people over politics,” the statement added.

His announcement set off a reshuffling in leadership. Rep. Joe Neguse, 39, D-Colo., a rising star in the party, will run for Clyburn’s leadership post, a House Democratic leadership aide told NBC News. Neguse was one of the impeachment managers during former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment and one of three Black leaders in the Democratic Caucus.

On Thursday, a Democratic source told NBC News that Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, will run to succeed Neguse as chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), the party’s messaging arm, should Neguse win a promotion.

Escobar, 54, a former El Paso county judge and a member of the Hispanic Caucus, is one of three co-chairs of the DPCC, but she is seeking to oversee the operation as chair, a post lawmakers refer to as “the chair of chairs.”

Clyburn said that although he’s retiring from leadership, he is still running for re-election to his congressional seat.

“I will run for re-election for the Sixth Congressional District,” he said, referring to a seat he first won in 1992. “Events of the last several years have made it clear that the greatness of America is at peril, and the threats to our continued pursuit of ‘a more perfect Union’ are real.”

Clyburn, a top Biden ally, raised eyebrows in late 2022 when he didn’t follow the lead of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to step aside and allow younger members to move up in the ranks.

Pelosi and Hoyer are running for re-election for their seats, as well. Like Clyburn and President Joe Biden, they are in their 80s.