CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina will host the fourth nominating contest of the Democrats’ 2020 schedule and the first where a significant portion of the Democratic electorate, about 60%, is black. That’s a major focus for Democratic White House hopefuls Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke.
Ahead of one of South Carolina’s largest gatherings of Democrats next weekend, the pair are ramping up their outreach efforts to woo black voters in the early-nominating state. Democratic officials and party faithful will descend on Columbia on Friday for the South Carolina Democratic weekend, essentially the state party’s convention, to hear from 22 of the White House hopefuls jostling for the 2020 presidential nomination. But at a time when a faction of the party is yearning for greater diversity on the hypothetical ticket, the attempts by white male contenders, such as Buttigieg and O’Rourke, to prove their bona fides with this crucial voting bloc have come under scrutiny.
Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, previewed their strategies last weekend in Charleston, at the Black Economic Alliance presidential forum.
Buttigieg promised to spend “quantity time” in South Carolina before the primary election to demonstrate his ability “to listen and capture the concerns and aspirations of different parts of our coalition, especially the black vote, who has felt often used and taken for granted over recent years.”
“We are stepping up outreach in terms of events like this and more grassroots events, engaging with activists and community leaders, making sure that our campaign team itself reflects the diversity of the party and country we seek to serve,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the forum. “We know it’s going to take extra work from us because I’m not from a community of color and also was not famous when this process began.”
O’Rourke said he was “intentionally going everywhere and intentionally asking everyone to participate and to come in because intentionally we understand for this country to be successful everyone must be included, especially those who have been marginalized and locked out of this country’s success in the past.”
Both have significant room to grow in South Carolina Democratic support. A poll released by South Carolina’s Post and Courier on Sunday found former Vice President Joe Biden with a 20-point advantage on his nearest rival, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. But Buttigieg pulled double-digit support too with 11%, eclipsing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Sen. Kamala Harris, who earned 9% apiece. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and O’Rourke rounded out the field with 5% and 4%, respectively. Buttigieg was in the low single digits or below.
That squares with voter sentiment on the campaign trail.
ReZsaun Lewis, 37, a nonprofit organization executive assistant from the Charleston area, told the Washington Examiner he liked O’Rourke more “after meeting him” at a criminal justice forum held at a local ice cream shop. Lewis, who has additionally spoken with Booker, wants a nominee who can “bring more people into the tent,” and O’Rourke left an impression of having “done the research.” He added Buttigieg may need to build out his field operation because he didn’t “know much about him.”
Yet K.J. Kearney, a 36-year-old Charleston County School District employee who would like a party standard-bearer with “that magic sauce” that encourages unity, warned presidential prospects of making false promises or coming across two-faced.
“I’m not really as interested in these private affinity group meetings as I am in what they say in public,” Kearney said. “I want someone who talks about these issues with their white counterparts with the same energy they do with black dudes.”
It’s also an open question as to how the two black candidates, Booker and Harris, will be received. Despite their backgrounds, the pair are polling far behind Biden in the state, a matter brought to Booker’s attention in Charleston. Harris elected not to attend the event.
“I don’t need to shake up my campaign. Our campaign is working. In our internal circles, we’re ecstatic about how we’re doing,” Booker said. “I think African Americans guard their vote. They want to beat Donald Trump like we all do. They want to see the viability of a candidate. If we show in those first two states our ability to be very successful, I think it is going to help us grow even more in the polls.”
