Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Friday that although black Democrats were rallying around Joe Biden in states like South Carolina, the former vice president did not have their best interests at heart.
Buttigieg said black voters “felt abused” by Republicans and were “taken for granted” by Democrats, so they were siding with “one candidate” who was familiar — obviously referring to Biden, who has consistently polled with big leads in the African American vote.
Buttigieg said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire:
I don’t think that is the only candidate who has a vision on racial equality in this country, or necessarily the candidate who has the best, but they are rallying around a candidate who has earned the level of familiarity for decades.
Buttigieg’s comments were posted on Twitter by CBS News reporter Nicole Sganga.
NEW: Pete Buttigieg challenges Joe Biden's popularity among African American voters in SC:
“So they're rallying around one candidate. I don't think that is the only candidate who has a vision on racial equality in this country, or necessarily the candidate who has the best." pic.twitter.com/k4h5E9U8tk
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) December 6, 2019
Buttigieg acknowledged that as a new presidential candidate on the scene, he had to prove himself to black voters and do more to explain what was in his Douglass Plan to tackle “systemic racism” in America.
But the South Bend Mayor acknowledged that he had to do more personally in states like South Carolina.
“Before they care about what’s in your plan, folks need to know what’s in your heart,” he said. “They need to know who you are.”
Biden continues to enjoy widespread support from black voters, averaging 49 percent of the black Democrat vote in the last two national CNN polls.
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