NASHUA, New Hampshire — Pete Buttigieg passed the first two tests to prove his viability as a presidential candidate, but the hardest is yet to come.
The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor gained momentum after winning the most delegates during last week’s Iowa caucuses and surged in New Hampshire primary polls. The state was thought to be Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s to lose, and NBC called the race for Sanders, with Buttigieg in a close second as he addressed supporters at his primary night party — 24% to Sanders’s 26% as of 11 p.m. with 83% of precincts reporting.
“Over the past year, some two dozen campaigns have crisscrossed this state, each laying claim to the ability to bring people together, bring out the vote, and move Americans to a brighter future. Here, in a state that goes by the motto, ‘Live free or die,’ you made up your own minds,” Buttigieg said. “Thanks to you, a campaign that some said shouldn’t be here at all has shown that we are here to stay.”
Now, Buttigieg, 38, hopes that momentum from the first two predominantly white nominating contest states will translate to the Feb. 22 Nevada caucus and Feb. 29 South Carolina primary, which have large proportions of minority voters. He is in single digits in the most recent Nevada and South Carolina polls that were conducted before the Iowa caucuses, and it is unclear how much of a bump, if any, he will get there from his surge in the first two states.
“We will welcome new allies to our movement at every step,” Buttigieg said.
Meanwhile, primary rivals are moving to secure support in the next states.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is working to keep his “firewall” of support in South Carolina. He skipped his New Hampshire primary night party to go hold a campaign event in Columbia on Tuesday night. Businessman Tom Steyer also holds strong support in recent South Carolina polls, and he left New Hampshire before the primary to campaign in South Carolina over the weekend and start a bus tour through Nevada.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s surge in New Hampshire could also pose a threat to his appeal to centrist voters hoping to see a woman or candidate with national political experience win the Democratic presidential nomination.
At his victory party, attendees Paul and Rosemary Lacost of Amherst, New Hampshire, both wearing yellow Buttigieg campaign shirts, said they made up their minds on whom to vote for in the last few days after seeing many candidates at town halls.
But human resources professional Rosemary Lacost, 62, revealed that while she likes Buttigieg, she actually voted for Klobuchar.
“I just wanted her to get some New Hampshire votes. She’s a female,” she said, adding that Klobuchar is doing “a lot better than I ever thought she would be doing.”
While she was excited about Buttigieg doing so well, she said she is worried how the openly gay, married former mayor will fare in southern states.
“I’m totally, totally worried about the Bible Belt,” Lacost said.
Buttigieg’s struggle to appeal to minority voters, critical demographics for Democrats in presidential elections, is one of the biggest electability problems for his campaign.
Criticism of his handling of tensions between the black community and the police force in South Bend has haunted him throughout his bid. Voters in predominantly white Iowa asked Buttigieg questions about how he plans to reach minority voters, a sign that he has plenty of work left to do.
Failure to perform well in the next two contests will stunt Buttigieg’s momentum, while placing in the top three will help him argue that his campaign is viable not only in predominately white states, but nationwide.
Despite challenges for his favorite candidate on the horizon, salesman Paul Lacost, 62, said the night felt like a win for Buttigieg even though he won fewer votes than Sanders.
“It’s like if the Celtics play the worst team in the NBA, and they win in their home court, of course they’re going to win on their home court,” he said.
