Pete Buttigieg's test in South Carolina: Can he deliver for African American voters?

Pete Buttigieg, the white and openly gay Midwestern mayor who is emerging as an early star in the crowded Democratic presidential primary, admitted what he lacked Sunday as a mostly white audience in North Charleston stared back at him.

The mayor of South Bend, Ind., who is drawing large crowds and has appeared on the cover of Time magazine with his husband, began his town hall by calling it a conversation. Then he veered into a political confession.

“We need to be a campaign that models —in every respect — in our makeup, in our practices, in our support and in our conduct the increasingly democratic and the increasingly diverse country that this nation is becoming,” Buttigieg said.

Gary Loadholt, of North Charleston, had been waiting for it.

Loadholt, was one of the few African Americans in the crowd of 600 people who stood shoulder-to-shoulder inside a multipurpose room at North Charleston High School.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/pete-buttigieg-s-test-in-south-carolina-can-he-deliver/article_42571c88-6db4-11e9-8088-f39e31dd492a.html