ROCK HILL, South Carolina — Pete Buttigieg’s efforts targeting religious voters in South Carolina underscore his challenge in appealing to black voters and overcoming the hurdle posed by his sexual orientation.
Buttigieg addressed the congregation at African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Sunday morning and held an invite-only forum roundtable discussion with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders in the afternoon. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor, who is Episcopalian, seeks to redefine how faith and religion inform political decisions outside same-sex marriage and abortion and break Republican ownership of the “faith vote.”
Presidential candidates often make the rounds at predominantly African American churches in South Carolina, where a majority of Democratic primary voters are black. An October Post and Courier-Change Research poll found Buttigieg at 5% support among black voters in the state — an improvement from previous polls but far behind front-runner Joe Biden’s 38%.
“The history of our community has always been rooted and grounded in our faith. And for people of color, particularly African Americans, the black church has always been the nerve center,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright told the Washington Examiner.
At the roundtable, Buttigieg explained how faith drives his views on issues such as race, income inequality, and foreign policy.
“The greatest virtue of scripture in helping us navigate this issue,” Buttigieg said when asked about race, “is not only to teach us about the ways in which we need to look beyond it, but also to remind us of the ways in which we shouldn’t be so eager to look beyond it that we pretend that we don’t see color.”
Absent from the discussion were concerns about Buttigieg’s sexuality and how being an openly gay married man could be a hurdle to securing support from black voters.
An internal campaign memo obtained by McClatchy’s the State newspaper last week found that in a focus group of 24 uncommitted black voters some said “being gay was a barrier” to them supporting Buttigieg, “particularly for the men who seemed deeply uncomfortable even discussing it.”
Speaking to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church congregation, Buttigieg compared his struggles for gay rights to civil rights for African Americans. “I know what it is to look on the news and see your rights up for debate,” he said. “All of us must extend a hand to one another.”
The makeup of the roundtable displayed Buttigieg’s continued challenge in reaching black voters.
Of the two dozen attendees in the audience, a handful were African American. An additional 12 members of the press and a few campaign staffers made up the rest of the room. Before the event started, organizers removed the last row of unused folding chairs.
“I was a little disappointed to see that this crowd is not more diverse,” said Amy Hayes, 43, a former York County Democratic Party chairwoman who attended the event. “I want to know what happened with the campaign, because I know a lot of people here in South Carolina who are black ministers who I think would have liked to see him. So, maybe there was a glitch.”
Buttigieg’s campaign celebrated the turnout of more than 1,500 people at a Saturday campaign rally in Rock Hill, his largest event in South Carolina yet. But a significant portion of attendees in the largely white crowd were North Carolina residents who will not be able to vote in the South Carolina primary.
Seawright noted that North Carolina is a Super Tuesday state and the campaign may be trying to “kill two birds with one stone” by spending time in the upstate city that is close to Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The mayor is trying to make his case and, in some cases, change some hearts and minds about his candidacy,” Seawright said. “It is not a bad strategy to meet people where they are.”
