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Congressman Jim Clyburn, 84, Steps In to Hold Colleague's 4-Month-Old Baby on Live TV

The longtime South Carolina representative volunteered to hold Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen’s infant son, Sam, as they spoke to reporters

Washington, June 11, 2025

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South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn has been a member of Congress since 1993. But he’s been a father even longer.

Clyburn and his late wife, Emily, shared three daughters, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. So it made sense that the 84-year-old congressman called on his paternal instincts on Tuesday, June 10, when he stepped in to hold the 4-month old son of his colleague, Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen.

The pair were speaking to reporters as part of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, introducing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and Enhanced Background Checks Act to establish universal background checks for firearms purchases. As Pettersen, 43, stepped up to answer questions with her son, Sam, in her arms, Clyburn quickly volunteered to help.

“I love that,” Pettersen said of the gesture after carefully handing her son over. “I can’t wait to tell him one day that Representative Clyburn was holding him.”

Pettersen and her husband, Ian Silverii, welcomed Sam on Jan. 25. They also share a 5-year-old son, Davis.

The congresswoman has frequently brought her children with her as she carries out her House duties. She and Davis sat in on a House Financial Services hearing in June 2023, and in April 2025, she brought Sam on the House floor as she advocated for Congress to allow members to vote remotely during maternity leave.

The issue was a central part of the birth announcement Pettersen shared on her congressional website when Sam was born.

“Congress makes no accommodations for new parents, so while I’m recovering and taking care of my newborn at this critical time, it's incredibly unfair that my constituents will not have a voice in Congress until I am physically able to return to Washington,” she wrote.

“No Member should have to choose between caring for their newborn and representing their constituents," she continued. "I’m disappointed Speaker Johnson has still refused to move forward with my bipartisan proposal to allow Members to vote remotely while they take care of their newborns, but I won’t stop fighting to bring this to the floor for a vote, even while recovering from childbirth.”

Pettersen added: “My two boys remind me of what’s at stake, and I’m more committed than ever to making sure my constituents’ voices are heard in Washington.”

Clyburn, meanwhile, won reelection for his 17th term in the House of Representatives in November. He is a major power broker in Washington, a pivotal member of the Congressional Black Caucus and has previously served as the Democratic Party's House majority whip.

Clyburn and Pettersen, as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, advocated for longer background checks for gun purchases ahead of the 10th anniversary of the mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The attack by then-21-year-old Dylann Roof on June 17, 2015, left nine dead — all of whom were constituents of Clyburn’s district.

“He picked this church because of its history,” Clyburn told reporters. “With the kind of background check we are talking about today, we would have prevented that because he would have never gotten a gun.”