Pete Buttigieg downplays lacking minority support: 'Even African American candidates struggle' in the South

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.”