Pete Buttigieg turns to William Barber to discuss racism and poverty
As he labors to win over black voters whose support is vital to his Democratic presidential bid, Pete Buttigieg found a receptive host on Sunday in a civil rights activist who has sought to continue the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s push for a racially diverse national campaign against poverty. After attending services at the Rev. William Barber’s Greenleaf Christian Church, Buttigieg stayed for a discussion with the Poor People’s Campaign — begun by King shortly before he was assassinated in 1968. Barber, a pastor and former North Carolina NAACP president, revived the movement to unite a new generation of Americans of all races to combat economic inequality. The visit with Barber’s racially diverse congregation held dual value for Buttigieg, illustrating his ability to tackle racial justice issues critically important to African-Americans and giving him a chance to portray his agenda as bigger than appealing to one specific voting bloc. He also hoped to introduce himself to black voters and lay out his plans for their community through their shared Christian faith and values. “Part of what I’m trying to do is talk about these issues, including specific racial issues around voter suppression and systemic racism, in a way that helps everyone in the country understand why we all have a stake in dealing with it,” Buttigieg told reporters after the poverty discussion. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor added that he believes he is making progress with black voters, including those “who may yet not feel that they know me.” Buttigieg discussed topics from health care to climate change during the forum that followed the church’s Sunday service, to which a campaign spokesman confirmed that the mayor brought his own Bible. Even before the candidate began speaking, however, Barber sought to defuse a question that has proven thorny for Buttigieg in his struggle to break through with black voters: whether being gay plays any role in his troubles with a constituency that can trend more socially conservative. Barber swatted away what he called the “false narrative” of division between African-American and LGBTQ voters, and after the service reiterated that any portrayal of tension between the two communities is “not factual.” Buttigieg’s problems gaining ground with black voters have persisted since earlier in his campaign, when he faced tough questions back home after the shooting of an African-American man by a white South Bend police officer. His lackluster performance is particularly significant in South Carolina, where black voters are a dominant force in the Democratic primary and one recent poll yielded him 1 precent support from that early-voting state’s African-American voters — far below former Vice President Joe Biden and lagging other Democratic rivals. After Buttigieg’s events in North Carolina, which holds its 2020 presidential primary on the early March date dubbed “Super Tuesday,” he’s set to return to South Carolina before heading on to Alabama for a three-state Southern swing. His appearance at Barber’s congregation delivered a third benefit to the 37-year-old White House contender by giving Buttigieg a chance to show his comfort with his own faith. Buttigieg roused the crowd in Barber’s church by remarking that although politicians “are often specifically advised to speak to the middle class,” the Bible urges awareness of the plight of the poor. After fielding questions from local residents, Buttigieg told reporters that he hoped Barber’s work to portray helping the poor as a moral issue helps create a new path for Americans to build community and “be led by faith in the public square.” Barber’s anti-poverty campaign, which aims to pick up the anti-poverty work King began before his assassination in 1968, follows a series of “Moral Mondays” protests he convened at North Carolina’s state capital to mount civil disobedience in favor of more progressive policies. “The Poor People’s Campaign is about uniting people who have been divided against their interests, and I believe the same could be said of America as a whole,” Buttigieg said. “And that’s true for any marginalized group, from the LGBTQ community to poor people to those who have suffered racial discrimination.” By Elana Schor Associated Press Republished with the Permission of the Associated Press.
Elizabeth Warren raises $19.1 million, topping Bernie Sanders in new fundraising
Elizabeth Warren raised $19.1 million in the second quarter, her campaign said Monday, cementing her status in the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders and surpassing Bernie Sanders, her main liberal rival. The strong showing leaves the Massachusetts senator behind only Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor who reported nearly $25 million, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who has tallied $21.5 million since his candidacy began in late April. Perhaps most notably, Warren raised more money than Sanders, who is also vying for liberal voters and is the only other candidate who has joined her in swearing off high-dollar fundraisers. The strong showing signals the grip Warren is gaining over the party’s progressive base. Sanders easily won over these voters during the 2016 presidential primary as the sole liberal alternative to Hillary Clinton. But he faces more competition during his second run, and Warren’s steady stream of ambitious policy plans may come at his expense. “To sum it up: We raised more money than any other 100 percent grassroots-funded campaign,” said Roger Lau, Warren’s campaign manager, said in a glancing reference to Sanders. “That’s big.” Warren more than tripled the $6 million she raised in the first three months of 2019 , when she silenced some skeptics of her long-term fundraising viability following her decision to rely on grassroots rather than high-dollar donations. The campaign’s $19.1 million came from more than 384,000 contributors giving more than 683,000 donations. That’s less than the nearly 1 million individual donations Sanders’ campaign reported, but comparable with the 725,000 online donations that President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign reported during the second quarter. More than 80 percent of Warren’s second-quarter donors were first-time contributors. Warren’s extensive organizing apparatus, particularly in early voting primary states, remains both a formidable asset — and a significant cost — as the campaign prepares to report $19.7 million in cash on hand. Her operation counts more than 300 paid staff members, 60 percent of whom are in the four early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, according to the campaign. While a staffing footprint of that size is likely to spark questions about Warren’s high spending rate among some of her presidential rivals, her team has already underlined its confidence that the campaign will have enough resources for the long term. “Overall, the Warren operation has a six-figure number of people who own a piece of the campaign and an eight-figure amount of money to go execute the plan. So, game on,” Warren adviser Joe Rospars tweeted after her first quarter fundraising tally emerged. Beyond Sanders, Warren’s success also could pose a threat to California Sen. Kamala Harris, whose $12 million second quarter fundraising got a major boost in the final days of last month from her performance in the first Democratic debate. Both Warren and Harris hold a natural appeal to Democratic voters seeking to select a female nominee to go up against Trump, and Warren is seeking to make headway with black women even as Harris seeks a foothold as the primary’s lone black female candidate. After a campaign event in New Hampshire on Monday, Warren said that grassroots support is “going to be our comparative advantage come 2020.”“And even more importantly, that’s going to be the momentum to get real change come January 2021,” she said. As Warren rises in the fundraising chase, she has also gained strength in some Democratic primary polls conducted since the first round of debates. While Biden appears to remain the front-runner, his margin over the pack of candidates that includes Warren, Sanders and Harris has narrowed. A national poll released last week by Quinnipiac University also found Warren increasing her standing among voters as the candidate with superior policy proposals. Warren’s energetic output of policy proposals has helped her push past a rocky start in the primary. That fast pace isn’t likely to change as the Democratic campaign nears an expected winnowing from about two dozen candidates. This week alone, Warren is scheduled to hold a town hall in Milwaukee after joining a half-dozen other Democratic presidential hopefuls at a gathering hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens. She’ll then head to Philadelphia for Netroots Nation, an annual conference for progressive activists. “In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll keep growing our movement across the country and Elizabeth will keep rolling out new plans to level the playing field for working people,” Lau wrote in an email to supporters. Warren was already a guaranteed presence in this fall’s Democratic primary debates, which require at least 130,000 donors as well as minimum polling performance, according to rules set by the Democratic National Committee. She’ll likely be joined on that stage in the fall by a rival whose showing she praised after last month’s first debate: former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, who reported on Monday that he had met the higher donor threshold needed to qualify. Associated Press writer Hunter Woodall contributed to this report from Peterborough, New Hampshire. By Elana Schor Associated Press Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
