Joe Biden says Pete Buttigieg — fresh off a winning finish in the chaotic Iowa caucuses — hasn’t shown he can unify black or minority voters.
In an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos to air Sunday, Biden laid into his Democratic primary rival, pointing out black legislators in Buttigieg’s hometown of South Bend Ind., have endorsed Biden.
"I'm saying he hasn't been able to unify the black community — that's what I'm saying," Biden said.
He also reiterated his belief no Democrat can win the party's presidential nomination nor defeat President Donald Trump without the support of the African American community.
"In order to win, George, you're going to have to be able to win states like Pennsylvania," Biden said. "You're gonna have to be able to win Florida. To have to be able to win a lot of places that, in fact, have very diverse populations. And so the assertion that he's ready across the board, I don't see it. I haven't seen it yet."
The criticism comes just hours after Biden's campaign released a digital video mocking Buttigieg's tenure as mayor of South Bend, particularly the demotion of the city's African American police chief and what they claim was the forcing out of the city's African American fire chief.
"When public pressure mounted against him, former Mayor Pete fired the first African American Police Chief of South Bend. And then he forced out the African American fire chief, too," says the video, posted to Biden's Twitter account.
Buttigieg has said he demoted the city's police chief, Darryl Boykins, to the rank of captain, because of his failure to inform Buttigieg the department was under federal investigation amid reports that Boykins allegedly ordered people to secretly record racist comments by senior white police officers, ABC News reported.
Howard Buchanon, the city's fire chief for five years, had originally submitted retirement papers in 2010, but after Buttigieg's election informed him he no longer wanted to retire. Buttigieg had already named a replacement for Buchanon, who then retired in 2012, the news outlet reported.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.