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Buttigieg Courts Black Voters
Pete Buttigieg returned to South Carolina as a private citizen while weighing another White House run, after his previous presidential campaign ended in the state in 2020.
“In Florence, Buttigieg spoke about redistricting.”
In Florence, Buttigieg told party activists that Republicans were using redistricting as “the culmination of a generational project to dismantle Black representation.”
In Orangeburg, he met with students at Claflin University and discussed topics including artificial intelligence, reparations for slavery, and young people’s frustration with contemporary politics.
The trip came shortly after the Democratic National Committee’s August 15 decision to preserve South Carolina’s status as the site of the nation’s first presidential primary, underscoring the political weight of the state’s large Black electorate.
AP reported that Buttigieg said, “Right now, I’m totally focused on 2026,” while his weekend included an NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner and a speech warning of a country in “big trouble.”
Receptions, Quotes, and Debate
AP described a standing ovation in a Black church in South Carolina when Buttigieg was credited for helping bring millions of federal dollars to the area for a project as President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary.
At an NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, Buttigieg told the crowd of more than 200 people, “There is no such thing as again in real life. The only way out is through,” as applause contrasted with his 2020 reception.
Jaime Harrison, a former Democratic National Committee chair and South Carolina Democratic Party chairman, said, “You need to demonstrate that you can win Black voters,” adding, “If you can’t win Black voters, you can’t be the nominee of our party.”
CNN reported that Buttigieg said President Donald Trump’s second term may feel “all too familiar” to activists who fought for civil rights in Orangeburg in the 1960s.
CNN also quoted Marlon Kimpson, a Black former state senator who backed Biden in the 2020 primary, saying, “The Pete Buttigieg of 2020 is not the Pete Buttigieg of 2026.”
2028 Stakes and Next Moves
The coverage tied South Carolina’s role in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary to Buttigieg’s effort to reintroduce himself to Black voters he struggled to win in 2020.
“the Democratic National Committee voted on August 15 to keep it as the location for the first presidential primary in the nation”
CNN reported that the Democratic National Committee voted on August 15 to keep South Carolina as the location for the first presidential primary in the nation, a “nod to the political power of its large Black electorate.”
Buttigieg also used the trip to press a broader case about democracy and economics, telling the crowd that Republicans were using redistricting to dismantle Black representation and warning that prior struggles played out “not on some distant shore, but in places like Orangeburg.”
In Orangeburg, Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler said, “He is responsible for the Railroad Corner,” referencing a project aimed at revitalizing the city’s downtown that received a $22.7 million federal grant.
AP said Buttigieg raised money Friday in Charleston with Nancy Lacore, a U.S. House candidate trying to flip a Republican-held seat, while he continued to insist he was “totally focused on 2026.”