Data shows that Pete Buttigieg lost black support between two mayoral runs
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As Mayor Pete Buttigieg contends with the fallout from the shooting of a black man by a white police officer in his city, a POLITICO analysis of data from his earlier mayoral elections shows he struggled to win the confidence of the city’s black voters following a series of controversies in his first term.
South Bend Common Council member Henry Davis Jr. speaks during a meeting on Friday, May 18, 2012, at the Emmanuel Community Church in South Bend. | James Brosher/South Bend Tribune Others felt that the mayor's reforms prioritized attracting college-educated professionals to South Bend at the expense of local input from black residents who lived in the corridor between the airport and downtown. And his decision to demote the city's first black police chief — the handling of which Buttigieg calls his "first serious mistake as mayor" — further inflamed tensions between the city's police force and its black communities.
Buttigieg's struggles to nail down the support of South Bend's black voters provide crucial context for his early difficulties winning black backers for his presidential race, an Achilles heel he's tried to address with high-profile events like his sit-down at a Harlem restaurant with Rev. Al Sharpton. Over lunch, he tried to make the case that as a gay man, he understood the pain of those who confront discrimination. But public polling suggests he still has a long way to go.
In this Nov. 3, 2014 photo, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during a presentation ceremony for the newly redeveloped area along Jefferson Street, near Howard Park, in South Bend, Ind. | Robert Franklin/AP Photo/South Bend Tribune "The Chief Boykins debacle was one of the first things that was a clear indicator that he wasn't connected to this community, he wasn't interested in hearing what the community was saying," said Davis. "He was interested in what he thought, and he kept saying what he thought was the best for our community."
To create a sense of urgency, Buttigieg set an ambitious goal for his initiative: the city would tear down or repair 1,000 houses over the course of 1,000 days. But to achieve that goal, Buttigieg needed to quickly spur homeowners into action or otherwise get neglected properties into the city's hands.
According to Williams-Preston, the couple had purchased a half dozen properties in their neighborhood through tax sales, and planned to eventually rehabilitate and sell the homes. But after her husband, the family's primary breadwinner, became ill and fell into a coma, the couple's plans fell apart at the same time that code enforcement was becoming more active.
TOP: Mayor Pete Buttigieg celebrates with clerk candidate Kareemah Fowler after the pair won their democratic dominations inside the Westside Democratic Club in South Bend. | Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune BOTTOM: A sculpture in downtown South Bend unveiled by Mayor Pete Buttigieg in 2017 depicting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and former Notre Dame president Fr.
That fall, Buttigieg trounced his Republican opponent with 80 percent of the vote. In his memoir, he writes that the overwhelming margin convinced him that "our socially conservative community had either moved forward in its acceptance of minority sexual orientations, or decided it didn't care." Williams-Preston expressed forward-looking optimism about Buttigieg's relationship with South Bend's black communities. She recalled how Buttigieg arrived at community functions with a stiff demeanor and large entourage during his first term, which gave way to more relaxed and intimate interactions in his second term.
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