As Pete Buttigieg struggles to win over black voters, his African American friends are vouching for him
ROUND O, S.C. - When Pete Buttigieg visited a fifth-generation African American farm and vineyard in rural South Carolina, the Democratic presidential contender wasn't the only elected official from South Bend, Ind., in attendance.
One of the city's council members, Sharon McBride, was among the nine participants seated on the lawn of a 1940s shotgun farmhouse, and she was the only one who did not speak during the lengthy and cordial conversation. At another roundtable Buttigieg held in North Charleston with low-wage workers, McBride again was seated on the panel and did not say a word throughout the friendly event.
But when the third stop of Buttigieg's recent South Carolina trip didn't go quite as smoothly, McBride sprung from her seat in the front row as her mayor faced questions about why he seemingly had failed to connect with black voters.
"I can be a witness to some of these things. One of the myths is that he doesn't have minority support," McBride, who is African American, told a room of predominantly black Democrats in Allendale, S.C. "If you look at the statistics and the math, I believe in your reelection, you got 80% of the vote, and of
