Democrat Pete Buttigieg Overstated Pledges of Support from Black Leaders, Public Figures
Briana Stewart and Beatrice Peterson, ABC News, February 18, 2020
When Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg touted support from African American comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key last week, his campaign was forced just hours later to clarify that the actor had not officially endorsed the former South Bend mayor, telling reporters he only sought to “encourage early voting and voter registration.”
Key appeared with Buttigieg on Saturday to drum up voter support at his Henderson, Nevada field office.
The gaffe did not attract much attention. However, it was not the first time the Buttigieg campaign overstated having a tie with a prominent African American figure, or black business.
In several instances reviewed by ABC News, the Buttigieg campaign identified people as supporters who later said their interactions had either been misunderstood or misconstrued.
The mix-ups have come at a crucial moment for Buttigieg’s campaign — which has made a concerted effort to promote his desire for inclusivity, even as polls show he faces an ongoing challenge finding support from voters of color.
Nationally, Buttigieg has support from 4% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning African-American voters, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released on Feb 10. {snip}
A key test of that support is in South Carolina, which hosts its Democratic primary next week. Black voters there make up nearly 30% of the state’s population and more than 60% of the Democratic primary electorate.
The first indications there was confusion about some of Buttigieg’s claims of support came in October, when the campaign issued a press release in South Carolina that identified Rehoboth Baptist pastor and state Rep. Ivory Thigpen, and Johnnie Cordero, chairman of the Democratic Black Caucus, as prominent backers of the candidate’s “Douglass Plan for Black America.”
The comprehensive proposal, named after abolitionist leader and author Frederick Douglass, which aims to tackle racial inequality and improve the lives of black Americans, had support– just not an official endorsement from those politicians named in the headline of the release.
“I never endorsed the Douglass Plan and it’s not necessarily that it was a bad plan, but people have got to understand, you can’t talk for black people, we’re very capable of speaking for ourselves,” Cordero told ABC News, adding that he was given no explanation as to why or how the mix-up occurred.
Then last week, Buttigieg wrote an op-ed in a major South Carolina newspaper saying his campaign has “proudly partnered with local businesses,” citing Diane’s Kitchen in Chester and Atlantis Restaurant in Moncks Corner. But when ABC News reached out to the entrepreneurs about these new partnerships, they only remembered welcoming Buttigieg’s campaign as customers, not forging any sort of partnership with the candidate.
“I stand for what I stand for and I didn’t say I had a partnership,” Diane Cole, the owner of Diane’s Kitchen, told ABC News on Friday, Feb. 14.
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The Douglass Plan press release
In October, the Buttigieg campaign released his “Douglass Plan”, and in a press release touted a headline from the HBCU Times saying that “More than 400 South Carolinians endorse Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Douglass plan for black America.”
A backlash ensued almost immediately.
The online publication The Intercept was first to discover that three prominent African American state leaders in South Carolina — whose names were highlighted at the top of the campaign’s announcement — had said their position had been misinterpreted.
Columbia City Councilwoman Tameika Devine said though she has been asked by the campaign to review the plan she had not yet publicly weighed in. So, when she saw her name used to promote the plan, she was worried the press release may have created the misimpression that she endorsed the candidate since the word “endorse” was used.
She called the press release “intentionally vague” in an interview with The Intercept. She turned to social media to clarify her stance, tweeting, “Although I have not endorsed a candidate for President yet, I do support the Douglass Plan by Presidential Candidate @PeteButtigieg. This is a comprehensive plan to address economic inequities.”
Thigpen, the state representative, told ABC News that he considered the episode even more unsettling than Devine. Thigpen said he told the Buttigieg campaign he is a Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders surrogate when he was approached by the former South Bend, Indiana mayor’s campaign staffer to review the Douglass Plan and give his feedback. After reading the content of the plan, he agreed to commend the Buttigieg campaign for attempting to tackle such important issues as the wealth gap.
But he said he made it clear he could not publicly endorse the plan or the candidate.
“I thought using the word endorsement would be confusing,” Thigpen recalled, saying that he told the campaign he thought the plan was an important and positive step and would consider making a statement. Though he never sent one, he said a campaign staffer wrote him back requesting approval of quotes they had drafted on his behalf.
“They sent an email basically saying, if individuals want to opt-out of being listed as an endorser, then they needed to respond to the email by 4 p.m.,” Thigpen said of the message. “I didn’t see the email and so, of course, I didn’t respond to it. So they moved forward with my name.”
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Cordero, the chairman of the Democratic Black Caucus, also was surprised to see his name on the release, even though he has an amicable relationship with Buttigieg.
The chairman recently endorsed Tom Steyer, but at the time of the incident he was not affiliated with any candidate and had been advising all the 2020 campaigns. {snip}
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After Cordero notified the campaign of the error, they removed his name from their list of endorsements. {snip}
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Diane Cole, the owner of Diane’s Kitchen, said she remembers when a Buttigieg staffer asked her if they could hold a small meeting at her restaurant. {snip}
To Cole, the campaign was simply another customer. But as South Carolina geared up for the first-in-the-South primary, Cole received a call from the Buttigieg campaign asking if they could mention publicly that they had visited her business. Cole said it was fine, but said she made it clear she did not agree to partnerships with the candidate, or his campaign.
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Then on Friday, she saw her name listed in Buttigieg’s op-ed — identifying her restaurant as a partner of his campaign.
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Another business Buttigieg identified in his op-ed as a partner was the Atlantis Restaurant and Lounge, the site where he held a campaign town hall with radio host and T.V. personality Charlemagne tha God on Jan 23.
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Still, owner Wendell Varner said he never expected to be identified as being a partner of the Buttigieg campaign. Varner said he only learned of the newspaper mention when ABC News contacted him to verify his affiliation with the campaign.
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