The last time Pete Buttigieg gave a political speech in South Carolina, it was to mark a distant finish in the state's primary that effectively ended his campaign for president. Returning this weekend as he mulls a second run for the White House, Buttigieg set out to reintroduce himself to the state and the Black voters he struggled to win in 2020. The results were encouraging, per the AP. There was 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 Biden's transportation secretary. A second ovation came as Buttigieg gave a speech warning of a country in "big trouble" while laying out his own vision for what should come next.
"I have come to believe that the kitchen table cannot be improved unless we are also reforming the institutional and political floor on which that kitchen table sits," he said. The warm applause was a markedly different reception than six years ago, when a fourth-place showing in South Carolina helped derail Buttigieg's presidential campaign while exposing his failure to connect with Black voters. The state is likely to have an even greater say in his political future as the first contest in the Democratic presidential primary in 2028.
Buttigieg insists he has made no final decision about whether to run for president again, but his South Carolina trip—a week after visiting another early-voting state, Nevada—had all the trappings of a potential presidential bid. Read the full story.
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