No surprise ….
He is the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana that has police / black person shooting and he’s had rocky relations with blacks back home as he tries to manage the city
…And?
He’s gay….
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.
Detailed precinct results from South Bend’s 2011 and 2015 mayoral races show Buttigieg repeatedly lagging in contests against black primary challengers in many of western South Bend’s predominantly black neighborhoods. And though Buttigieg still managed to win those precincts in two general elections against white Republican opponents, his support in these areas fell after his first term.
In the 2011 general election, Buttigieg had some of his highest margins of victory in these neighborhoods — a typical result for a Democrat facing a Republican opponent in South Bend. But by 2015, western South Bend gave him his weakest results after his support plunged more than 20 points in some precincts.
Interviews with city council members, former political opponents and local residents suggest that Buttigieg’s management style — heavy on outside expertise and top-down implementation — may have alienated grassroots voices, a complaint that registered strongly in South Bend’s black communities, where the desire to be heard and consulted has historic resonance….
…
Buttigieg publicly came out as gay in an article in the South Bend Tribune titled, “Why Coming Out Matters.” The mayor expressed his hope that coming out would increase acceptance for the city’s gay community.
“And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay,” Buttigieg wrote, “perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community.”
While some residents said that rumors about Buttigieg’s sexuality had swirled in South Bend for years, the public announcement put strain on his relationship with some traditional black religious congregations that had previously supported him but felt blindsided by the announcement. According to Davis, some pastors declined to support Buttigieg in the subsequent general election….