Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat and South Carolina’s senior member of Congress, felt the “blue wave” coming.

He felt it on the road in places like Mississippi and Michigan. And he felt it in the Palmetto State on Nov. 3 as he rolled up the largest margin of any South Carolinian running for statewide or congressional office — 69% to his opponent’s 30%.

But the 86-year-old Clyburn didn’t think it would be as big as it was.

“When I was asked what I predict, I told people, I said, I think we (Democrats) might get to 238 seats (in the 435-member U.S. House),” said Clyburn in a wide-ranging phone interview Tuesday from Washington.

“I said, from 232 to 238. I never would have dreamed in my wildest imagination that we get to 258 or 260.” (Latest results have Democrats winning 255 House seats, with a dozen races undecided.)

When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, Democrats were elated, said Clyburn. “But the emotions then were nothing like they were for this election. I’ve never experienced anything like it, and I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like it again.”

First elected in 1992, Clyburn has won 18 consecutive elections to two-year terms in Congress to represent the 6th Congressional District. It includes all or part of 14 counties, including Richland, Sumter, Orangeburg and Charleston.

In his interview with a State newspaper reporter, Clyburn — a high-ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee — talked about his plans to bring federal dollars into South Carolina and a host of other state and national issues from whether to impeach Donald Trump to shoring up Social Security.

Here are his main points:

—Getting projects and federal dollars to the Palmetto State. “I plan for South Carolina to benefit immensely,” Clyburn said. He will be listening to people about what the projects should be, and he wants to make sure that areas without many resources are able to have grant-writers to make sure they get their projects presented properly. He will especially target rural communities where more than 20% of the population has been stuck beneath the poverty level for the last 30 years.

—“You qualify for this money based upon your situation rather than your sophistication. You may not be sophisticated enough to write these high-sounding proposals to get money, but your situation says you need it. So I’m going to be funding these communities based upon their situation, and not require them to have sophistication,” Clyburn said. One of Clyburn’s recent successes was getting a $200 million federal grant to separate rail and vehicle traffic around Assembly Street and Rosewood Drive, he noted.

—On whether Republicans in the S.C. State House will try to put him in a Republican district for 2028. “They probably will,” said Clyburn, warning that such a move just might backfire. After all, he said, North Carolina Republicans who had a majority GOP Congressional delegation redrew districts. Now, after the Nov. 3 election, even with three races still not called, North Carolina Democrats will have more congressional seats than Republicans.

—Why did Democrats win so overwhelmingly? “The Triple C — costs, chaos and corruption” were among the major reasons, Clyburn said. “This is a very, very, very corrupt administration. The swamp has never been as swampy in this nation as it is today. Never.”

—Does he favor impeaching President Trump? “I am not for impeaching Donald Trump because I don’t think there’s any possibility of getting a two-thirds vote in the Senate.” Two-thirds of the 100-member Senate, or 67 votes, are needed to convict a president who has been impeached by the U.S. House. Trump has been impeached twice, but each time, not enough senators voted to remove him from office.

—Does he favor impeaching Secretary of Defense Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.? “I am for impeaching Hegseth. I am for impeaching Robert Kennedy. I believe that the American people feel that these two people have done tremendous harm to our country’s security, both on the foreign and domestic fronts. What Kennedy has done to the security of families in this country on the domestic front, with all of his foolishness about anti-vaccination and all that, I mean, he vaccinates his own children. Hegseth has been a real, just downright embarrassment ... an insult to everybody’s intelligence.”

—Clyburn’s guiding principles? Clyburn said he keeps in mind what he calls the Triple A — accessibility, affordability and accountability. “I’m all for triple government: government that is accessible, government that is affordable, and government that is accountable. That is what I think we need to do going forward. “

—Ukraine. “I’m a big supporter of Ukraine. I think Ukraine, unfortunately, has been deserted by this administration. This administration has made it very clear that it favors communism as being practiced in Russia by Putin over democracy that has been practiced in Ukraine.”

—Shoring up Social Security, which experts say faces a shortfall in revenue in 2032. "I have asked the leadership on my side to allow me to be an integral part of working on this. Hopefully, there will be some kind of an effort to bring Social Security into viability for at least the next two generations.”

—Expanding Medicaid. An expansion of this joint state-federal program in South Carolina would help bring more money to nursing homes and rural hospitals and help in getting low-income people more affordable health care, said Clyburn.

—Diversity? “I can tell you right now, Jim Clyburn is all for diversifying our government. It wasn’t diversified for my mom and daddy, and I wanted to be diversified for my children,” said Clyburn, who in 1992 was the first African-American elected from South Carolina to Congress in 95 years.

—Getting along with Gov.-elect Alan Wilson? “That remains to be seen. I always got along with his father (Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale). We didn’t agree on much, but we get along well.”

—On the election of Democrat Nancy Lacore as the Congress member-elect in Charleston’s 1st Congressional District. Lacore is a former U.S. admiral who was terminated, along with numerous other generals and admirals, by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Now, in the upcoming Democratic-controlled Congress, she is in a position to vote on whether Hegseth should be impeached. “She didn’t get mad with Hegseth, but now she has gotten even,” said Clyburn.

—Does he support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer to the leaders in the U.S. House and Senate. “Absolutely. I’m supporting them with every ounce of my fiber.”

—Will he run again in 2028? “I don’t know.”

—What next? “This is not the end. This is the beginning,” said Clyburn. After winning control of the House and Senate, Democrats know the presidency comes open in 2028. “We just took our first two steps. I think we’re going to take the third step in two years.”

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