In a pair of events — one moderated by activist and CNN commentator Angela Rye before a crowd of students at historically black Claflin University, and another in Moncks Corner led by Charlamagne Tha God, host of the Breakfast Club — Buttigieg answered questions from the hosts and audience members on his policy proposals for addressing black economic development, affordable housing and expanding funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
When Buttigieg noted the lack of racial diversity at some of his South Carolina events in conversation with Rye, she jumped in: “That scare you?”
“Yes,” Buttigieg replied. “In order to deserve to win, I’ve got to be speaking to everybody.”
But Buttigieg’s campaign also hedges expectations about the state. “Will you see the same results as Iowa? You know, probably not,” said Rep. Anthony Brown, Buttigieg’s national campaign co-chairman, who will continue campaigning for Buttigieg in South Carolina throughout the weekend when the candidate returns to Iowa.
“Keep in mind that Vice President Biden and Sen. Sanders had the opportunity to run nationally, a number of times, so they’re better known” in South Carolina, Brown continued. “The more time we spend there, the more people get to know who Pete Buttigieg is, what he stands for, that he’ll fight for us and for our families, I think we’ll see the numbers move in a good direction.”
Buttigieg has grown his organizational footprint in South Carolina, adding more than 30 organizers and four field offices throughout the fall. But those staff additions lagged behind other presidential campaigns.
Buttigieg also noted that he’s competing against rivals, like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who have had “years, even decades to demonstrate” their support to African American voters.
“Here I am … this new, young, white guy, who comes along saying, ‘look at my great plans,’ to voters who have been taken for granted or felt taken for granted again and again and again, which means that high bar is high for a very good reason,” Buttigieg said in Orangeburg. “The best I can do is tell the story of my own community — the good, the bad and the indifferent, and never pretending for a minute that I know what it’s like to be followed around a department store because of my race.”
Later that night, Charlamagne Tha God put it more bluntly: “How do we know you aren’t just blowing smoke up the black community’s ass in order to get our support?”
“I didn’t get into running for office in order to comfort the comfortable, and I walked away from a pretty good paying job in order to make myself useful back home,” Buttigieg responded. “That means making yourself useful to everybody who has reason to doubt whether government is working for them.”
Buttigieg’s conversations in South Carolina, though largely policy-focused, circled back to his record in South Bend and his unfamiliarity with the black community. Buttigieg answered questions about his failure to award more contracts to minority-owned businesses as mayor, while also acknowledging his controversial relationship with black police officers in South Bend.
In lightning round questions with Rye about the last song he’d listened to, Buttigieg said Iceland’s Sigur Rós, an avant-garde rock band. But he did say “what’s good” in all seven languages he speaks, including English.
Source: politico.com
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