Perhaps you may not expect to be informed from the opinions section, but in case you haven’t heard the news, here it is: Pete Buttigieg is ending his presidential campaign. This is not the section in which we may speculate about why he has taken this action or wonder about who will drop from the race next. However, this is the section to reflect on his campaign–rather, the opinions on it.
At first glance, “Mayor Pete” seemed like a candidate who would not make it far in the race. While South Bend is the fourth-largest city in Indiana, Indiana has never been a politically powerful state. According to the Washington Times Herald, in 2015, the city’s population grew for the first time in 50 years. Perhaps more pressingly, as an openly gay man, Pete Buttigieg is facing homophobia, which is all too prevalent in the United States, including in his home state, where, it, among many states, does not include sexual orientation and gender identity among minority groups protected in non-discrimination laws. While, like in all states, there are liberal and conservative pockets, the fact that Indiana does not have explicit language in its LGBT laws is significant.
However, Pete Buttigieg did become a contender. In a race polarized by the far-right policies of Donald Trump, moderates flocked to his side.
Donald Trump made Pete Buttigieg popular; he even used much the same rhetoric about not being “corrupted” by experience in the capital. However, Donald Trump was also Pete Buttgieg’s undoing. Donald Trump’s controversial presidency has worried moderates, but it has ignited the energy of liberals, and those who are voting for the farthest left-leaning candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are less likely to prioritize seeking common goals with Republicans, according to a January Pew Research poll, rejecting the notion that Democrats need to “play it safe,” trying to capture the disgruntled rural, lower-middle class “silent majority” that delivered Trump to the White House.
The reason Buttigieg’s campaign cites for his leaving of the race, though, is equally important, and that is his lack of popularity among minority, particularly Black, voters. Joe Biden has been a popular choice among Black voters because of his relationship with former president Barack Obama, but Black voters in general appear to be anxious about this race. As Politico explains, “The Democratic Party maintains an overwhelming share of black support, with 70 percent saying they will vote for the party’s presidential nominee in November. Yet more than one-third of all black voters surveyed expressed a desire for “someone else” to run. Given the option to vote for the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump or a third-party candidate, Trump and the third-party candidate each received 12 percent of support.” This is significant because Black voters consistently vote Democrat, and, in past Democratic victories, the Black vote has played a significant part. However, Buttigieg was not popular among Black voters. Although there could be many reasons for this, one factor may be Buttigieg’s record on race as mayor of South Bend. In June 2019, a white police officer fatally shot a black South Bend resident. The resident was brought to the hospital in a police cruiser instead of an ambulance. Buttigieg left the campaign trail to deal with the fallout – only to arguably make things worse. One exchange between the former mayor and a group of Black protesters became famous. The newspaper Indystar reports the exchange as follows:
Mayor Pete Buttigieg: “I do not have evidence that there has been discipline for racist behavior…”
Protester: “You running for president and you expect black people to vote for you?”
Buttigieg: “I’m not asking for your vote.”
Protester: “You ain’t gonna get it either.”
Buttigieg might have won the Iowa caucus and got second place in New Hampshire, but his team determined that he had no way to unseat the other candidates in the race. So now he won’t be asking for anyone’s vote.
