Pete Buttigieg is considering an endorsement of Joe Biden after talking to former President Barack Obama and dropping out of the presidential race.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, dropped out of the contest on Sunday. A Democratic official told the New York Times that the decision was made after Buttigieg spoke with Biden and Obama on Sunday night.
The source said Obama did not encourage Buttigieg to endorse any specific candidate but told the former mayor he holds significant influence and should take that into account before throwing his support behind somebody.
During the conversation with Biden, the former vice president asked Buttigieg to support his campaign, and the former mayor said he would consider it. Buttigieg told aides he would sleep on it.
Buttigieg, who was the first openly gay major presidential candidate, appeared to take swipes at Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist, during his speech Sunday night as he announced the end of his campaign.
“We need leadership to heal a divided nation, not drive us further apart,” he said. “We need a broad-based agenda that can truly deliver for the American people, not one that gets lost in ideology.”
Buttigieg held the delegate lead through the first two states that voted in the Democratic primary but failed to gain much support outside of his college-educated white voter base. He finished fourth in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, garnering just 8% of the vote and zero delegates before dropping out.
Sanders leads the Democratic primary field with 58 delegates heading into Super Tuesday; Biden has 50. The Vermont independent also leads national polling with 28.5% support while Biden has 20% support, according to a RealClearPolitics average.
