MIAMI — Pete Buttigieg escaped his first presidential debate unscathed despite facing scrutiny from moderators and other candidates about his mayoral record, aided in part by Kamala Harris stealing the show and turning the attack on Joe Biden.
The South Bend, Indiana mayor addressed declining minority representation in his city’s police department during his tenure, highlighted by this month’s killing of a black man by a white South Bend police officer.
“I couldn’t get it done,” Buttigieg said during Thursday’s debate.
Buttigieg, 37, has had an otherwise charmed campaign up until the shooting controversy. The Afghanistan veteran and openly gay married man rose to the top tier of presidential candidates even though he was essentially unknown before exploring a presidential run.
Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said that it was a good decision for Buttigieg to take responsibility for the shortcoming. “Something like that’s a breath of fresh air for viewers,” Kall told the Washington Examiner.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and California Rep. Eric Swalwell pressed Buttigieg on his handling of the department, but their attacks were soon overshadowed by Harris drawing attention for Biden’s work in the Senate against desegregation busing in the 1970s.
Buttigieg’s exchange with Swalwell “could have escalated” during the debate, Kall said, but California Sen. “Kamala Harris interjected herself into the discussion of race and kind of saved Buttigieg a little bit from a messier situation.”
While Buttigieg hit a speed bump during the debate about police department scrutiny, he was still able to adequately present his core policy ideas and values.
“This was the first time I’ve ever seen him give any type of speech, I’ve never seen him talk about policy, and he couldn’t have been to me any more impressive,” Todd Graham, debate coach at Southern Illinois University, told the Washington Examiner.
Graham cited Buttigieg’s unique but risky statement about religion as a standout moment that put him a step above other candidates.
“For a party that associates itself with Christianity to say that … God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religious language again,” the South Bend mayor said during the debate.
Graham gave Buttigieg a grade of A- for his debate performance, noting that had it not been for the tough moment when Buttigieg addressed race relations in South Bend, it would have been an A+. “It wasn’t embarrassingly bad and he still owned up to it, and so that is why he had an excellent debate,” Graham said.
Buttigieg opted to skip the post-debate “spin room,” where reporters bombard candidates with more questions about their performance. He and Biden were the only candidates to skip the spin room.
“Given his performance, I wouldn’t say that’s a bad sign,” Kall said. “If you do well in the debate, anything you say in the spin room could detract from that.”
While analysts say that Buttigieg presented himself well during the debate, his performance may not give him a bump in the polls.
“In a crowded field like this, you really need to get to that next level and distinguish yourself to reach the top tier, and I don’t think he did that yet,” Kall said.
