Pete Buttigieg highlights the importance of diversity at a fundraising event organized by Ralph Northam's senior attorney

APete Buttigieg, a presidential candidate, organized a fundraiser hosted by a prominent lawyer from the governor of Virginia, the Governor of Virginia, highlighting his commitment to diversity and imploring his supporters to join minority communities.

"I think that with regard to the experience of Black America, replacing racist policies with neutral policies will not be enough," Buttigieg told the crowd Friday night in Alexandria, Virginia . "We can not have a country where people are systematically denied all employment opportunities to create wealth, health, education, and then expect that They take care of themselves even though we had neutral policies, which in many cases is still today. "

Jessica Killeen, associate attorney at Northam since taking office in 2018, was one of the hosts of the event. In February, Buttigieg called for Northam's resignation after revealing a photo of black-faced men and a Ku Klux Klan suit on the Northam page of his 1984 yearbook. After apologizing, Northam denied being in the picture, but admitted to wearing polish to darken his face with a Michael Jackson costume at the same time in the 1980s. An investigation into the photo completed in May did not help determine if Northam was one of the people photographed.

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel criticized Buttigieg's connection to Northam via fundraising in a tweet on Friday night. "What has changed, Pete?" McDaniel said.

At the event, Killeen declined to comment on McDaniel's criticism, addressing his questions to the governor's office. A spokesman for the governor's office said that Killeen's participation in the event had been approved by the governor's office, in accordance with the political activity guidelines requiring it to be held outside working hours and during the hours of the day. personal, reported the Washington Free Beacon.

Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., Has maintained his position that Northam should resign. "I do not know all the ins and outs of Virginia politics, but from my point of view, it seems extremely problematic that our party has somebody in that position that has taken these steps," she said. he told a Washington Post Live event in May.

The presidential hopeful has been fighting to get the support of black voters in the polls, a point he has subtly recognized during fundraising in Alexandria. Buttigieg called on his supporters to "make sure that we form a coalition as diverse as the party we seek to be," asking those who were in a mostly white audience to find "people who do not look like you." , thus attracting them to the process, simply inviting them to support the campaign "so that the campaign can" ensure that we pay close attention to the right problems and tell stories that truly reflect the experience of each ".

Buttigieg also mentioned his "Douglas Plan", named after the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, as a play about the Marshall Plan's help to Western Europe after the Second World War. World War. Buttigieg's plan aims to reform credit scoring and access, to reduce by 50% the number of Americans incarcerated and to create federal grants in low-income communities. "You have to invest in America to raise Black America here at home," Buttigieg said.

Representative Don Beyer, D-Va., The first member of Congress to approve Buttigieg's candidacy for the presidency, introduced him to the crowd in Alexandria.

Tickets for the "popular fundraiser" sold out range from $ 25 to $ 1,000. Those who donated $ 500 or $ 1,000 had access to a photo shoot before the reception, while others took life-size photos of Buttigieg and her husband, Chasten, and enjoyed 8 drinks. at the bar. Buttigieg took the stage about an hour and a half after the scheduled start of the event.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the Democratic Democrats' main rival, will star in the Virginia Commonwealth Blue Dinner party in Richmond, Va., On Saturday night.