Clyburn is the highest-ranking black Democrat in leadership as the assistant leader, and he is seeking to regain his Majority Whip position that he held the last time Democrats were in the majority.
"I don’t know where it’s all coming from," Clyburn reportedly told McClatchy on Tuesday. "But someone came to me over the weekend and told me that (they heard), when I was whip before, I was a figurehead."
According to McClatchy, Clyburn, who said that "nothing could be further from the truth," reportedly added that "suggestions that, as the only black member of the leadership team, he was a token and not an effective leader, were tantamount to ’the little dog whistles that have been floating around this side for a long time.’"
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) is challenging Clyburn for the Majority Whip position, and her spokesperson reportedly said DeGette "categorically and respectfully rejected" the notion that she or her allies were downplaying Clyburn’s accomplishments or using racial dog whistles.