Pete Buttigieg | John Locher/AP Photo Buttigieg gets $100K infusion in California from LGBTQ group

OAKLAND — California’s leading LGBTQ group is pouring money into an eleventh hour effort to lift former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the most populous Super Tuesday state.

Equality California Votes, the state advocacy group’s super PAC, is launching a $100,000 effort to turn out sympathetic voters, targeting more than a million Californians who have yet to cast ballots with calls and Facebook spots. The Los Angeles Blade, a prominent LGBTQ publication, will run a full-page ad.


With less than a week before California’s March 3 primary, polls show Buttigieg lagging multiple rivals here and suggest that Buttigieg is in danger of missing the 15 percent threshold California uses to award statewide delegates. In that scenario, he could still pick up delegates in individual House districts.

Multiple polls establish Sen. Bernie Sanders as the clear California frontrunner and show Buttigieg trailing him by double digits, although the margins vary. A poll released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California put Sanders at 32 percent and Buttigieg at 12 percent; a Monmouth University tally found a wider gap, with Buttigieg claiming just 9 percent.

Buttigieg has been a regular on the California fundraising circuit, pulling in some $10 million from the Golden State, and has generated enthusiasm among members of the state’s sizable LGBTQ electorate motivated by the prospect of America’s first gay president. His endorsers here include a number of openly gay elected officials and celebrities, and he has cleaned up in campaign contributions from some LGBTQ enclaves.

“There’s a strong contingent of LGBTQ voters and donors that are very excited about his candidacy. They helped plant the initial seed to launch his campaign,” Equality California Votes spokesperson Tony Hoang said in an interview. “We hope and expect that LGBTQ voters will come out and support him, but he’s building a broad coalition” that extends beyond that bloc.

Equality California’s Nevada counterpart, Silver State Equality, is also endorsing Buttigieg, and the organizations attributed Buttigieg’s better-than-anticipated, third-place Nevada finish in part to their advocacy. Hoang argued that Buttigieg has repeatedly exceeded expectations and predicted that the money push, combined with his debate performances, would push him over the top.

“We think he’ll continue to outperform and clear that 15 percent mark in California,” Hoang said.