Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg spoke to an energetic crowd of more than 700 Thursday at the Young Democrats of America's annual convention in Indianapolis.

He walked out to a standing ovation and chants of "Pete, Pete, Pete," but then a group repeating "Black lives matter" took over, seeming to reference the shooting by a white police officer of a black man June 16 in South Bend.

"Black lives matter," Buttigieg said, ending the chant. "We're on the same page."

Here are the key takeaways from his 20-minute address.

Mayor Pete played to the crowd

He began his speech by making it clear he was talking to his generation. And, he said, Republican leaders have misled them for years. From cutting taxes on the wealthy, to disbelieving climate change, deregulating banks, prohibiting same-sex marriage to invading Iraq, he said many Republicans have been wrong.

"To come of age in the 21st century is to see virtually every major prediction and policy advanced by the Republican Party in your adult lifetime fail before your eyes when put into practice," he said. "Nothing they say actually works in the real world. They say young people are idealistic. But we’re not Democrats because of our idealism, we’re Democrats because of our reality."

He took on Mike Pence

Buttigieg said there's no such thing as a permanently red state.

"You can't judge our state by the current vice president," he said. "Yes, Indiana may lean right, but I've seen it go blue in my lifetime, and I think we can do it again like never before."

He referenced President Trump's attacks on minority congresswomen

A day after chants of "Send her back" in reference to U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar broke out at a North Carolina rally for President Donald Trump, Buttigieg did not tread lightly.

"We have to reject the kind of racism and demagoguery that tells a U.S. citizen to go back where she came from. Everybody knows damn well where she came from is Minnesota," Buttigieg said. "That's her home."

He said Republicans want to change the subject to race and origin to obscure the fact that progressive members of Congress are working on policies such as raising the minimum wage.

He also tasked Republicans for not standing up to Trump. Buttigieg said Republicans in Congress are betraying their own stated values by backing Trump so they can pass their agenda.

"They're basically reduced to burning down their own house, he said, "which is a problem because we live next door and now the neighborhood is on fire."

Asked by reporters after his speech if he could reach voters who chanted "Send her home," Buttigieg's answer was stark.

"The reality is there are a lot of committed racists whose vote I'm never going to get, and that's all right," he told reporters. "There are also some people who are thinking twice about the vote they cast in 2016, and there are a lot of Republicans of conscience who will say this far but no further, and there are a lot of people who simply voted to burn the house down. And now that the house is on fire, it's time to actually pick somebody who is going to do something about the future."

Trump lacks 'courage'

After the speech, Buttigieg was asked whether he took Trump at his word when the president said he disagreed with the chants. Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters he disagreed with the chants and had tried to stop them by speaking. Multiple news outlets have reported that 13 seconds of chanting elapsed before Trump resumed speaking — about Omar.

"If President Trump really cared, he would have done something on the spot about it," Buttigieg said. "But of course we know he, first of all, lacks the courage to do that and secondly he needs us divided. He wants us divided. This is a president for whom racial mistrust and division is an asset. The problem is while it's useful to him it's incredibly destructive to this country."

He said U.S. is starting a new era

During his address, Buttigieg broke the past century or so into two distinct eras.

He started with the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to use the government to lift the country from the Great Depression, saying it lasted 50 years.

And then, he said, the subsequent Reagan era has lasted 40 years "with even Democrats acting like the only thing you can do to a tax is cut it, like the only thing you can do with government is shrink it. But it didn’t work."

He said the Reagan era ends with this generation, which brings us to ...

He talked about his Douglass Plan

He said racial equality can be achieved in our time.

Released last week, his plan would revamp how many different American institutions relate to one another and can work to drive equality.

"It’s why I insist that we match the ambition of the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe with a Douglass plan to build equality in homeownership, entrepreneurship, health, justice, education and democracy for black Americans who are excluded to this day."

He didn't go into great detail, but you can read about it here.

Still, it's clear Buttigieg has work to do, after recently polling at near zero percent with African American voters. He kept hearing smatterings of "Black lives matter" even after discussing his Douglass Plan.

Asked about that after the speech, he said he's laid out the most comprehensive plan in the 2020 field to dismantle systemic racism.

"The plan is very well received," he told reporters," but I have a lot of work to do to go out and communicate it."

He stressed he's a Christian

Buttigieg said that, despite the efforts of many Republicans, Americans now have the freedom to marry whomever they love, noting he's married to his husband, Chasten.

Buttigieg said he's also a Christian, a religious progressive.

"God doesn't belong to a political party anymore," he said to cheers.

He tweaked a familiar line

He likes to say in many of his speeches that he'll be "the current age of the current president" in 2055. Usually he says he hopes to be retired by then. He changed it up a little Thursday, saying he hopes to attend the Young Democrats convention that year.

"And I will be there to remind young people of the power they have if they rise up together. And I will prove my point by telling them what we did in 2020."

Republicans noted he's back in town

Buttigieg hasn't made an official trip to Indianapolis since launching his campaign. He was last here in February on a book tour. The state GOP noticed his absence.

"After spending more time recently in places like Iowa, New Hampshire, New York and California than the city he's employed to lead, it's great to finally welcome Pete Buttigieg back to Indiana," said an email sent by state GOP spokesman Pete Seat.

"We hope Buttigieg can squeeze in a trip to South Bend while he's here," the note continued, "where he might find time out of his busy schedule of big-dollar fundraisers with liberal celebrities to address his city's vast issue of residents not even feeling safe in their own neighborhoods. The question stands that if Pete Buttigieg can't even handle being mayor of South Bend, what makes him think he could handle being president?"

When told of that email, Buttigieg responded to reporters afterward: "That's cute. Indiana's my home."

Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at 317-444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.