To black SC voters, Pete Buttigieg says he knows ‘mostly white folks’ attend his events
Speaking to students at historically black college Claflin University, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that he’s aware it’s “mostly white folks” who show up to his rallies in South Carolina, a state where black voters make up two-thirds of the state’s Democratic Party primary electorate.
Asked whether that “scares” him, Buttigieg said yes.
“I’ve got to be speaking to everyone,” the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said.
Buttigieg’s return to South Carolina on Thursday was his first visit back to the state since his quick trip to Columbia on Monday to march in the 20th anniversary King Day at the Dome event. Buttigieg was one of eight candidates to make the trip but was the only candidate to not speak at the program at the state Capitol, instead taking a plane back to Iowa to speak at the Brown and Black Forum.
Missing the program meant missing the opportunity to speak to a large audience, most of whom were black. Buttigieg also skipped U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s “World Famous Fish Fry” over the summer, staying in South Bend to deal with a shooting that involved a police officer.
The question of why the 2020 hopeful has struggled to win over black voters in South Carolina has followed Buttigieg throughout his campaign in the Palmetto State and beyond. Buttigieg has been unable to poll higher than single digits with black S.C. voters.
At the top of those polls is former Vice President Joe Biden, whose familiarity to S.C. Democrats as the No. 2 to the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, has earned him a swath of support from the state’s older black voters.
In both trips in the state on Thursday, Buttigieg confronted the problem with being the new guy.
“I get that this is an ongoing process of earning trust, and I get that as a new guy I don’t have decades worth of experience for folks around the country to get to know me, right?” he said in a sit-down with radio show host Charlamagne tha God in Moncks Corner.
At his first stop, Buttigieg sat with CNN commentator, attorney and businesswoman Angela Rye for a live podcast taping at Claflin University in Orangeburg.
On demand, he translated “What’s good?” into five languages and answered a range of quick questions including: what’s his pet peeve — “grammar, bad grammar”; who’s his favorite African American in history — Frederick Douglass, for which Buttigieg has named a policy plan; whether he watches the “NFL or nah” — NFL, but college ball; and what’s his birthday wish: “first to be the president of the United States,” but also “I want to feel built for the summer. I want to get swole.”
He also addressed his sexuality. Buttigieg is openly gay and is married to husband, Chasten Buttigieg.
Asked what advice he’d give his 20-year-old self? “I guess that you’re going to be alright,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg’s second stop was in Moncks Corner with Charlamagne, host of “The Breakfast Club,” to discuss issues that impact the black community. He discussed his plans to help historically black colleges and business owners, but also responded to the audience’s frustration that Democrats running for president sometimes take black voters for granted.
Impressed by Buttigieg was Spencer Goodman, 31, of St. Stephens.
“Everything he answered from Charlamagne was very impressive,” Goodman said. “Charlamagne is wide open, he doesn’t hold anything back. He (Buttigieg) did a very good job holding his own.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
