Buttigieg Courts South Carolina Black Voters With His Veteran Status

👤Pete Buttigieg, the only veteran in the top tier of candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, is turning to South Carolina’s large military community to help shore up his nagging lack of support among black voters.

The primary on Saturday in the diverse southern state is seen as an important durability test for the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has yet to prove he can motivate minority voters and dispel criticism that the economic revitalization in his city bypassed residents of color.

Despite a narrow win over Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses and a close second place finish to the Vermont senator in the New Hampshire primary, Buttigieg has struggled to gain ground with African Americans, a core Democratic constituency.

Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 19 showed only 1% of black Democrats and independents said they would vote for Buttigieg, compared with 33% for Joe Biden, 19% for Sanders, 10% for Mike Bloomberg and 7% for Elizabeth Warren.

In entrance polls from the Feb. 22 Nevada caucuses, Buttigieg received support from 2% of black voters.

Two-thirds of the Democratic electorate in South Carolina is black. Senior Buttigieg campaign officials say blending his message of uniting a country divided by President Donald Trump with his military veteran status is central to their strategy to make inroads with South Carolina’s black residents, who disproportionately are veterans and active duty service members.

“Pete often talks about how in the military you get to work with people of very different backgrounds – whether it’s political affiliations or religions, or ethnicity or race. One of the things that binds people together in the military is service over all of those other things,” a campaign official said.

The campaign has run ads in recent weeks featuring black veterans. Buttigieg also was endorsed by a progressive, military-focused super PAC called VoteVets.