NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Joe Biden spent his final full day as president Sunday in South Carolina, urging Americans to “keep the faith in a better day to come” and reflecting on the influence of both the civil rights movement and the state itself in his political trajectory.
On the eve of Monday’s inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Biden delivered a final farewell from a state that holds special meaning after his commanding win in its 2020 Democratic primary set him up to achieve his life’s goal of winning election as president.
Biden spoke to the congregation of Royal Missionary Baptist Church about why he entered public service — Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were political heroes, he said. And in a nod to South Carolina Democrats, he said: “I owe you big.”
The day before the federal holiday honoring King, the slain civil rights leader, Biden struck a more hopeful tone for the future of the country than his televised farewell address last Wednesday, when he warned about an “oligarchy” of the ultrawealthy taking root and a “tech-industrial complex” impeding the future of democracy.
“We know the struggle to redeeming the soul of this nation is difficult and ongoing,” Biden said Sunday. “We must hold on to hope. We must stay engaged. We must always keep the faith in a better day to come.”
He added: “I’m not going anywhere” — and the congregation applauded.
Biden later toured the International African American Museum in Charleston which was built on a waterfront site where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the U.S. from the late 1760s through 1808.
He spoke about efforts to ensure an administration “that looks like America,” pointing to people like Lloyd Austin, who was Biden’s secretary of defense and the first Black person in the job. Speaking of his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, he leaned toward the microphone and said: “And by the way, she’s smarter than those guys.”
“We’re proving that by remembering our history, we can make history,” Biden said.
As he spoke, at a Trump rally back in Washington, speaker after speaker slammed Biden’s presidency before the president-elect got on stage, previewing what was to come after Trump takes office.
Before the church service, as hostages started to be released under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. helped broker, Biden said “the guns in Gaza have gone silent.” He noted that in May he had outlined the agreement to halt the fighting.
“Now it falls on the next administration to help implement this deal. I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days,” Biden said, before urging Trump to keep supporting regional allies and using diplomacy to maintain the hard-won deal.
Biden has been dogged by critics who oppose his administration for shipping arms to Israel and say the U.S. didn’t push its ally hard enough to ease a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. As his motorcade moved through Charleston, a group chanted “Biden is a war criminal” and held a banner saying “Biden’s legacy=genocide.”
After commenting on the ceasefire, Biden and first lady Jill Biden took their seats in the front pew at the church. At least several hundred congregants sang gospel songs, rising to their feet and swaying and clapping. A choir led the musical selections from behind the pulpit before the program later shifted to focus on King.
Biden was introduced at both stops by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a key ally who called the president his “longtime friend.” Clyburn cited a number of presidents who were underappreciated in office but were later looked on more fondly. He added Biden to that list.
“So I want to say to you, good friend, very little appreciation has been shown recently but faint not. History will be very kind to you,” Clyburn said.
In 2020, Biden saw his campaign flounder after he lost the opening contests in New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada. But at the fourth stop, South Carolina — where Black voters make up a majority of the Democratic electorate — he was lifted to victory after Clyburn’s endorsement.
After taking office, Biden pushed for South Carolina to open the Democratic Party’s nominating process for 2024, instead of New Hampshire. He easily won the state’s primary last year, but after faltering in a debate against Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from many Democrats. Notably, Clyburn was not among them.
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Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.