Mayor Pete Panders to Black Voters

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Pete Buttigieg is rarely home these days as he scoots from South Carolina to New Hampshire to Iowa in pursuit of primary voters.

But back in South Bend, a fierce fight is underway between his campaign and some of his top rivals over Mr. Buttigieg’s impact on black residents.

With Mr. Buttigieg, the city’s two-term mayor, struggling to win African-American support, his campaign has turned to highlighting black leaders in South Bend who vouch for him, as a means of countering a run of negative news stories.

“One of the things we’ve seen is that the black voters who know me best, in South Bend, that’s where we have a lot of our best support,” Mr. Buttigieg said Friday in Iowa, as his campaign began posting “South Bend Stories” — short videos of black and Latino supporters in his hometown — on its website.