**Updated November 20, 2019: 

Blavity:Politics received an email after this piece was published from the Buttigieg campaign with a statement explaining their process for building supports for the Douglas plain.

"Our campaign is working to build a multi-racial coalition, and we sought and received input from numerous Black policy experts and advisers to create a comprehensive plan to dismantle systemic racism: the Douglas Plan. We asked a number of Black South Carolinians, as well as South Carolinians from many backgrounds, to support the Douglas Plan, and we are proud and grateful that hundreds agreed to do so."

Originally published November 15, 2019: 

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is facing criticism for how he advertised his Douglass Plan for Black America a couple of weeks ago. The plan listed numerous policy proposals the potential Buttigieg administration would act upon to assist the lives of Black folks across the country. 

In an open letter to HBCU Times, the Buttigieg campaign released statements from Columbia City Councilwoman Tameika Devine, Rehoboth Baptist Pastor, and State Rep. Ivory Thigpen, as well as more than 400 supposed Douglass Plan endorsers.

Devine had not yet endorsed Buttigieg's presidential campaign, despite the announcement, and immediately informed The Intercept of the lapse in communication.

Rolling out his racial justice plan, Pete Buttigieg claimed support from 2 prominent black South Carolina officials, Rep. Ivory Thigpen and black caucus chair Johnnie Cordero.

They told me they did not endorse his plan, had their names used anyway. https://t.co/OqnGSIqCLS— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 15, 2019

“I think the way they put it out there wasn’t clear, that it was an endorsement of the plan, and that may have been intentionally vague. I’m political, I know how that works,” Devine said. “I do think they probably put it out there thinking people wouldn’t read the fine print or wouldn’t look at the details or even contact the people and say, ‘Hey, you’re endorsing Mayor Pete?’”

Devine went on to explain why Buttigieg may have used the misleading tactic. With South Carolina being the earliest test of Black voter support, the campaign may have been trying to appear to have more endorsements than they currently did to persuade voters.

“The only ones I really knew were me and Rep. Thigpen,” Devine continued in her statement to The Intercept. “I don’t know many — actually, now that I think about it, other than the folks working on Mayor Pete’s campaign, I don’t know of any local elected officials who have endorsed him yet.”

Black voters, like in every democratic primary, are seen as a very important constituency for gaining the popular vote and winning elections. It's understandable why Buttigieg's campaign made the move it did, but now it seems that it's done more harm than good.