U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will spend Wednesday and Thursday campaigning in other states instead of South Carolina, where Democrats hold their primary Saturday.
After participating Tuesday in a CNN town-hall meeting in Columbia, the Democratic presidential hopeful will not campaign again in South Carolina until Friday, his state director Chris Covert confirmed.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has announced she will be at nine events each day from Tuesday through Friday — in Columbia, Sumter, Kingstree, Florence, Myrtle Beach, North Charleston and Orangeburg.
Clinton’s swing through the state includes some predominantly black communities, African-American churches and historically black colleges – a clear effort to lock down support from black voters, expected to cast more than half the ballots in Saturday’s primary.
Meanwhile, Sanders is holding a rally in Kansas City Wednesday, the Kansas City Star reported. The campaign has not released details about other stops the senator has planned over the two-day period when he will not be campaigning in South Carolina.
Sanders’ Friday schedule still is in flux, Covert said, adding stops in the Midlands and the Pee Dee are likely.
The senator trails Hillary Clinton by about 24 points in S.C. polls.
Sanders made a brief, unannounced stop Sunday at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia before holding a Greenville rally.
Clinton will hold a rally with mothers who lost their sons to gun violence Tuesday at Columbia’s Central Baptist Church before taking part in the CNN forum.
On Wednesday, Clinton will speak at the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority luncheon in Columbia.
Jamie Self: 803-771-8658, @jamiemself