Josh Brasted/GettyNEW ORLEANS—Pete Buttigieg entered the 25th annual Essence Fest Sunday morning with nothing to lose. Polls show the South Bend mayor with little to no support among black voters and his handling of a recent police shooting has had him on the defensive for weeks while his rivals—several
NEW ORLEANS—Pete Buttigieg entered the 25th annual Essence Fest Sunday morning with nothing to lose. Polls show the South Bend mayor with little to no support among black voters and his handling of a recent police shooting has had him on the defensive for weeks while his rivals—several of whom appeared at Essence on Saturday—have been building momentum.
An early star of the 2020 Democratic primaries, Buttigieg’s momentum stalled after South Bend police shot and killed 54-year-old Eric Logan in June. Although Buttigieg’s handling of housing and gentrification issues had already become problematic issues for many black voters and pundits, the Logan shooting sent the campaign into a tailspin.
Buttigieg also focused much of his remarks on black women, at one point calling for a national law outlawing “natural hair discrimination” and arguing that black women are “not just the backbone of the Democratic Party, but the bone and sinew that is making our democracy whole. We have seen time and time again, especially in the last couple elections, that when black women mobilize, outcomes change.
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