VINTON, Iowa — Pete Buttigieg pointed to the low polling numbers of former 2020 rivals Cory Booker and Kamala Harris in South Carolina when deflecting a question about his inability to connect with black voters.
“We’re also engaging voters who are rightly skeptical, who have felt taken for granted, not only kicked around by the Republican Party, but taken for granted by mine,” Buttigieg said Monday at a campaign event. “It is certainly more challenging when you’ve been here a matter of months in presidential politics instead of decades. And you will see, even African American candidates struggle to get out of single digits in the South.”
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been plagued throughout his White House bid by his failure to appeal to black Democrats, who comprise a crucial voting bloc. In the Feb. 29 South Carolina primary, an important early contest, the electorate is expected to be as much as 60% black.
Booker and Harris, senators for New Jersey and California respectively, dropped out of the 2020 Democratic primary race before Iowa’s kick-off caucuses on Feb. 3.
Monday was a four-stop day in Iowa for Buttigieg, 38. His campaign is focusing on counties in the first-in-the-nation state that voted for former President Barack Obama before supporting President Trump in the 2016 election cycle.
In North Liberty, he swiped at the White House incumbent for downplaying injuries sustained by U.S. troops in Iraq when Iran retaliated for the killing of top military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Buttigieg in Boone stood by comments made by his aides in a flurry of fundraising emails warning about the prospect of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders becoming the Democratic nominee. But he declined to jab at his septuagenarian opponents for the party’s nod over their age.
“Why is your climate change proposal less comprehensive than Sanders or Warren’s, when we have the most to lose? They’re going to be dead in 10 years,” a voter asked, referring to the Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator.
“As you might have noticed, my competitors are older, but they’re pretty robust individuals,” Buttigieg said. “I imagine I’ll be competing [against them] in serving this country for a long time.”
Monday was also the first anniversary of the death of Buttigieg’s father, University of Notre Dame Professor Joseph Buttigieg, which the candidate noted several times when talking about healthcare and his plans to boost long-term caregivers.
