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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said he has to earn the votes of African Americans.

Buttigieg, whose term as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, expired in January, visited Claflin University on Thursday. He held a conversation with CNN political analyst Angela Rye during a live recording of her “On One with Angela Rye” podcast in Ministers' Hall.

With polls showing his support in single digits among South Carolina black voters, Buttigieg said he must gain the respect of African Americans. “It’s my job as a candidate to make sure that I earn that."

Buttigieg said it concerns him that white people are the majority of the crowd at his campaign events.

“In order not just to win, in order to be deserving to win, I’ve got to be speaking to everybody,” Buttigieg said.

Rye asked Buttigieg a series of questions relevant to the large number of college students in the crowd, the first being about student loan debt relief.

“I support forms of debt relief,” Buttigieg said. But he isn’t in favor of any particular plan proposed by fellow presidential candidates and current lawmakers.