President Obama’s former campaign manager said Pete Buttigieg’s lack of black support means be cannot be the 2020 Democratic nominee.
“There’s no pathway to the Democratic nomination for president without a significant African American vote,” Jim Messina, who led Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 and was a top aide in his 2008 campaign, told CNN on Tuesday.
Messina said Buttigieg, 37, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is in a similar predicament to that of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary against Hillary Clinton, who overwhelmingly won the black vote.
“I don’t think there’s a pathway for Mayor Pete, who has been kind of the breakout star of this campaign and been a great candidate, but I just don’t think he can be the Democratic nominee for president given his current approval ratings and numbers with African Americans,” he said.
A CNN poll released earlier this month showed the 37-year-old had 0% support among black voters, a drop from 4% support in an earlier poll.
