DES MOINES — Wallace Mazon held the microphone and looked at Pete Buttigieg.
The 25-year-old felt nervous at the meet-and-greet in Des Moines. He took a breath and let his question tumble out.
“How can we … trust you to be a champion of racial justice?” Mazon asked the Democratic presidential candidate.
Mazon, who is black, had listed parts of Buttigieg’s record as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, that he believed hurt minority communities. Buttigieg challenged Mazon’s understanding of his record. He told Mazon he wanted to be “real honest” with him.
“It hasn’t been perfect. We didn’t get everything right. Not on housing, not on policing. This stuff is hard,” Buttigieg said. “… So I hope to earn your trust through an honest look at what we’ve done. The good, the bad and the in-between.”
The 38-year-old Buttigieg has answered questions about his South Bend record — often discussed through the lens of race — throughout his presidential candidacy. But those inquiries had rarely surfaced during public events in Iowa, a predominantly white state where the former mayor is among the top-polling candidates.
But as national polls continue to show Buttigieg receiving little support among African American voters, he’s getting more questions in front of Iowa audiences about his electability weeks before the lead-off caucuses.
- During a Jan. 14 CNN/Des Moines Register debate in Des Moines, a moderator asked Buttigieg a question referencing his low polling among black voters.
- At a Jan. 18 Presidential Candidates Forum Series event at a community college in Ankeny, another moderator questioned Buttigieg on the same issue.
- At the Jan. 20 Brown and Black Presidential Forum in Des Moines, moderators asked Buttigieg about his mayoral record, including a news report that several black South Bend police officers said they experienced racism on the force.
- At a private fundraiser in Waukee on Sunday, Buttigieg was asked about how he plans to counter criticism about support among people of color.
Buttigieg’s campaign has highlighted his economic development work as mayor and his positive relationships with black South Bend residents. On the Iowa campaign trail and elsewhere, Buttigieg often brings up his policy ideas aimed at addressing systemic racism in America. In recent weeks, he’s received endorsements from black leaders in Iowa and nationally.
Pete Buttigieg, former South Bend, In., Mayor, answers questions during the Brown and Black Democratic Presidential Forum on Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. (Photo: Kelsey Kremer/The Register)
A recent Washington Post-Ipsos Poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden holds a substantial lead with black Democrats nationally, with 48% saying they would support him. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont holds 20%, followed by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 9%. Buttigieg is at 2%. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is at less than 1%.
Voter guide: Don’t have a lot of time? Find FAQs on the key issues and where the candidates stand and more to make your vote matter.
In an interview with the Des Moines Register on Jan. 15, Buttigieg declined to comment on whether the narrative around him is unfair, since several candidates are polling low with black voters.
Buttigieg called racial inequality “one of the toughest questions our country is facing.”
“I recognize the obligation and the opportunity to reach out to voters of color,” he said.
Mazon, who questioned Buttigieg on Dec. 28, is an organizer for the Sunrise Movement, a group that advocates addressing climate change. The organization endorsed Sanders this month, though Mazon is still weighing whether to caucus for Sanders or Warren. Mazon said he appreciated that Buttigieg spoke to him shortly after the event. But the Des Moines resident remains unconvinced.
“I don’t think Mayor Pete is inherently a bad person,” Mazon said. “I don’t like his policies. I don’t think he’s progressive.”
Buttigieg courts Iowa’s black leaders
When Quentin Hart met Buttigieg at a work conference more than a year ago, the two mayors quickly jumped into a discussion about racial inequality.
Hart is the first African American mayor of Waterloo, a city with one of the largest black populations in the state. More than 15% of its residents are African American. More than 25% of South Bend’s population is black.
“Our very first conversation, other than what’s for dinner, was to talk about issues that we were facing in our communities,” Hart said.
Hart, who met with multiple Democratic candidates, endorsed Buttigieg on Jan. 14. Their relationship is a reflection of Buttigieg’s behind-the-scenes outreach to African American leaders in Iowa over several months.
Hart credits part of his support of Buttigieg on the ex-mayor’s Douglass Plan, a policy of expansive investment in areas like business, education and health care to help black Americans.
Deborah Berry, a black former Iowa representative in Waterloo, also endorsed Buttigieg recently. She met with Buttigieg privately late last year, and challenged him on his record. Berry appreciates that Buttigieg admits when he doesn’t have all the answers.
“I think that’s what people fail to realize,” Berry said about the realities of being a local official. “That these issues and problems are systemic. They didn’t start when he became mayor, didn’t start when I became a representative in 2003. These are systemic issues, and he’s the only one I hear really talking about (it).”
Amara Andrews held a private house party for Buttigieg in early December in Cedar Rapids. Andrews, who is African American and works in business development, said several black leaders from the community attended.
“When he was at my house, people asked him tough questions,” recalled the 44-year-old. “All of the questions were asked by African Americans. All of us left feeling, ‘OK. I can get behind him. I trust him.’”
Andrews thinks several of the top-polling candidates have a complicated history with minority communities.
“All of them have issues in their records that need to be addressed,” she said.
Stacey Walker, a Linn County supervisor, did a walking tour with Buttigieg in Cedar Rapids in September. The African American official later endorsed Sanders.
“When I think about electability, I think about putting together coalitions of people,” Walker said. “And a Democrat cannot win the presidency in this country without mobilizing and exciting communities of color … and Pete’s not there.”
‘The best way to demonstrate you’re electable is to do well in an election’
After a Red Oak event on Nov. 25, Buttigieg told the Register he was invigorated by his support in Iowa, but he recognized the need to continue organizing in more diverse states. New Hampshire, the first state to hold a primary on Feb. 11, has a majority white population. Nevada, with its large Latino community, is the third state on the nominating calendar on Feb. 22.
In a November Quinnipiac University poll of likely Democratic primary voters in South Carolina, Buttigieg registered 6% overall and 0% among black respondents. As evidence that he still has room to grow, Buttigieg pointed to the fact that 60% of black poll respondents said they didn’t know enough about him to form an opinion.
Buttigieg’s campaign has shifted its approach in the first-in-the-South primary state, which has a large population of black voters, to smaller events aimed at making a better personal case and spending at least $2 million on advertising. The state will hold its primary on Feb. 29.
“I don’t think the VP’s advantage there is insurmountable,” Buttigieg said, referencing Biden, who led in that poll with 33% of the vote overall and 44% among black voters.
In part, though, Buttigieg is banking on a win in Iowa’s caucuses to boost his support later in the nominating calendar.
“The best way to demonstrate you’re electable is to do well in an election,” he said. “And (Iowa) is our first chance to do that.”
Buttigieg at the time brushed aside the idea that he is asking Iowans to take a leap of faith and trust that he can build a multi-racial coalition of support once his campaign moves on from the Hawkeye State. Instead, Buttigieg argued he brings his own brand of electability to the race. In his stump speech to Iowans, he often notes that recent Democratic presidents were new to national politics when they secured their party’s nomination.
“(It’s been) somebody who had a message that focused on values and somebody who represented a new generation of leadership,” Buttigieg said. “And I think that right now we need to think about how to bring as many people as possible into the fold. It’s the central message of my campaign.”
‘This isn’t political, this is personal’
Emmanuel Cannady walked the spiral staircase, handing out flyers that read: “Mayor Pete Has A Black Problem.”
Cannady, a 36-year-old who is seeking a doctorate degree at the University of Notre Dame, traveled to Ames to pass out information about Buttigieg as people waited to enter his town hall on Jan. 13 at Iowa State University.
Cannady is among South Bend residents who identify themselves as a new chapter of the national Black Lives Matter organization. The day before, a small group of them interrupted Buttigieg’s town hall in Des Moines.
“We know who Pete is. We’re just nervous that Iowans don’t know who Pete truly is,” Cannady said.
The group’s criticism includes Buttigieg’s decision early in his tenure as mayor to demote the city’s first black police chief over the handling of phone-tapping on the force. Buttigieg has defended his actions.
The group has also criticized Buttigieg’s community response to the June death of Eric Logan, a black South Bend resident shot by a white police officer. A special investigation into the death is ongoing.
Cannady claims no presidential candidate or organization affiliated with a candidate funded his group’s travel, which included a visit to Los Angeles this month for another Buttigieg visit. Cannady said his group wanted to have a dialogue with Iowans about the former mayor’s record.
“For a lot of black Americans, this isn’t political. This is personal,” he said.
Separately, Buttigieg has weathered controversies on the campaign trail outside of Iowa. In November, some black leaders in South Carolina said Buttigieg’s campaign overstated the level of support he had for his Douglass Plan. Buttigieg also faced criticism for an answer he gave during the November Democratic debate that some felt equated the discrimination he’s felt as a gay man to that faced by black Americans.
Around that time, Buttigieg apologized for comments he made as a mayoral candidate at a forum in 2011 that implied poor, minority students struggled in school because they lacked role models.
Wendy Dorn-Recalde, 45, saw Buttigieg on Dec. 7 in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The stay-at-home mother, who is white, said she hasn’t been impressed with Buttigieg’s acknowledgment that he has work to do in broadening his base of support.
“I think he’s had the chance to do that for a long time, and he’s just now kind of catching on to the fact that maybe he needs to do that,” she said. “Well, he could have been doing that all along. I think that’s my biggest concern with him.”
Buttigieg remains popular in Iowa
It’s unclear whether any of these issues will impact Buttigieg’s Iowa caucus night performance.
Sixty percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers have not yet made up their minds, according to the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll. As Iowans weigh their options, any aspect of a candidate’s record could become the deciding factor in the close race.
But Buttigieg remains popular in the state and has built a strong following here that appears to be paying dividends.
Several hundred people turned out to see Buttigieg this month in northwest and southeast Iowa, conservative areas of the state. More than 1,000 showed up to his town hall on Tuesday in Cedar Rapids.
“When he talks to you, he looks at you and listens to what you have to say,” said Cindy Britton, who is white. She has seen Buttigieg three times and last saw him on Jan. 15 in Newton.
Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus position has faced renewed criticism this election cycle that its residents do not adequately reflect the diversity of the nation. Census data shows Iowa’s population is 4% black or African American.
Those concerns intensified following the candidate exits of former housing and urban development Secretary Julián Castro, who is Latino, and U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, both of whom are black.
Although the primary began as the most diverse in U.S. history, their departures have led to a nearly all-white slate of candidates.
The 61-year-old Britton said, unprompted, that she is concerned about Buttigieg’s low support among African American voters but added: “I’m not sure why they’re not for him.”
Britton said that, like former President Barack Obama during his first bid for the White House in 2008, Buttigieg is still unknown. She is convinced a win in Iowa will lead the way for Buttigieg like it did for Obama, the nation’s first African American president.
“I wholeheartedly feel that that will be a gigantic boost for him,” she said of Buttigieg.
Jim Errera, a 60-year-old postal service worker, saw Buttigieg in West Des Moines last month. He, too, is worried about Buttigieg’s broad appeal after Iowa. Errera, who is white, suggested Buttigieg spend more time in South Carolina before the caucuses.
“I think he’s done well here,” Errera said. “… I’m thinking further out. He wins Iowa, he’ll have momentum. I don’t want him to hit a brick wall when he goes to South Carolina.”
While an impeachment trial keeps many top-tier candidates out of Iowa, Buttigieg is crisscrossing the state and upping his travel schedule here.
But even in these critical closing days, Buttigieg appears to be channeling Errera’s concerns. He returned Thursday to South Carolina — fewer than two weeks before Iowans caucus.
Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.
Source: Read Full Article