Joe Biden has secured a weighty Deep South endorsement for his presidential campaign, with Alabama’s lone Democratic House member on Friday announcing her support for the former vice president.

Terri Sewell marks Biden’s 11th endorsement from the Congressional Black Caucus, far outpacing any other Democratic White House hopeful. Sewell also expands Biden’s footprint across the March 3 Super Tuesday primary slate that will play an outsize role in determining the Democratic nominee.

A Selma, Alabama, native whose congressional district includes seminal sites of the civil rights movement, Sewell told The Associated Press ahead of her announcement it was no coincidence she chose the weekend of Martin Luther King’s birthday observance to make public her 2020 choice.

“The No. 1 threat to my district is Donald Trump. The No. 1 threat to Martin Luther King’s legacy is Donald Trump,” Sewell said of the Republican president. “The best way I can counter that threat is to support someone who can beat him.”

Biden, she continued, “has a proven track record of furthering what Dr. King fought for” and can “protect that legacy” because he can appeal across the racial and ideological spectrum.

“Joe has a special combination of vast experience, respectability and authenticity that is well-received by Republicans and Democrats and globally by our allies and foes,” the fifth-term congresswoman said. Quoting her mother, she added, “Joe can talk to anyone.”

Sewell will campaign this weekend with Biden in South Carolina, which hosts the South’s first presidential primary on Feb. 29.

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Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell endorsed Joe Biden for president Friday, giving the former vice president his 11th endorsement from a black member of Congress heading into the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

The timing is no coincidence: Sewell said Biden’s life work has exemplified King’s legacy, and that’s why she’s choosing to announce her support for him now.

In a phone interview with POLITICO, Sewell said Biden is the preferred candidate of the base of the Democratic Party: black women. Her mother, Nancy Gardner Sewell — the first black woman elected to the Selma City Council — also supports him and is running to be a Biden delegate.

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“I look forward to telling Southern voters that are really important to Super Tuesday why it is I believe that Joe is the best candidate to move the nation forward and to really beat Donald Trump and protect the legacy that is Martin Luther King, fighting for justice and equality for all,” she added.

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Sewell framed Biden as the antidote to Trump, whom she described as “the biggest threat to the Democratic values that we hold dear.” Biden, she continued, is an authentic, known, presidential figure who can not only restore the dignity of the office but provide a boost to Democrats up and down the ballot.

“Joe at the top of the ticket is a huge boost for us maintaining our Democratic majority in the House and trying to gain a majority in the Senate,” Sewell said.

Biden has a significant lead over his rivals in endorsements from the influential Congressional Black Caucus, reflecting his support from African American voters. Sewell said she and Biden have talked a lot about the importance of having diversity on the Democratic ticket. The current front-runners for the nomination are all white, and the only black candidate remaining is former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, whose late bid has struggled to gain any traction.

“At the end of the day, I do trust Joe to choose someone who’s a complement to him and also will further solidify our support and further reaffirm his ability to lead but also his ability to unite,” she said. “Ultimately, the decision is his. But I do trust that he will make a decision that is complementary and diverse.”