Buttigieg again addresses concerns from minority campaign staffers

"More than 40% of the staff on our campaign are people of color doing a phenomenal job and need to be supported and deserve to be supported. So, we've taken steps that maybe, in history and in historical campaigns, haven't been done -- creating conversations and spaces for workers who are facing the challenges that I think any person of color in the workplace today is dealing with and making sure we're responsive to this," Buttigieg told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor was responding to a question from Tapper about reports late last month from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that outlined concerns among some staffers that their opinions have been undervalued in his campaign, and that they have faced pressures associated with belonging to a campaign that has struggled to win support from voters of color.

Last week, Buttigieig's campaign acknowledged that it has, over the course of several months, responded to the concerns, and he told reporters in Iowa that his campaign has "got to work much harder to do a better job when it comes to making sure that that inclusion is a reality, especially in the Trump era."

Also asked Sunday by Tapper if he regrets saying last year that President Donald Trump's voters are "looking the other way on racism," Buttigieg said he doesn't and that he's "very concerned about the racial division that this President has fostered."

"And I'm meeting a lot of voters who are no longer willing to look the other way on that, (who are) looking for a new political home. And I think it's one of the reasons why we have seen so many people -- in addition to the die-hard Democrats who are coming to our events, we're seeing independents and a remarkable number of people who tell me they are those future former Republicans that I like to talk about in our campaign," he said.

The comments on race by the former mayor come the day before voters in Iowa cast the first votes in this year's nomination process. Buttigieg, one of the top candidates in the race, has struggled to gain support among black voters since announcing his campaign last year, an issue that some Democrats argue could make it difficult for him to clinch his party's nomination. In recent months, he has been working to court black voters in states like South Carolina, where African Americans make up a sizable portion of the Democratic Party's base and are typically a critical voting bloc in elections.

In an interview on MSNBC on Sunday, Buttigieg was pressed on his lack of support from black voters, and responded that his campaign is "offering a message that speaks to everybody."

"Right now we are reaching out to everybody. I will not take any vote for granted, and I will not leave any vote on the table. That means reaching out to folks, including a lot of black and brown voters who have felt taken for granted by the usual politics, in addition to reaching out to people who maybe haven't voted Democrat in a while or haven't voted Democrat at all," he said.

Pressed in the interview on whether his campaign is looking to convert Republican voters or turning out large amounts of Democratic voters, Buttigieg said it was trying to do both.

"The thing is our answers are better for both. Our answers are better for farmers. They are better for industrial workers. And folks are saying these things like, you know, 'Are we going to focus on racial justice or are we going to focus on the kitchen table?' It makes it sound like black and brown folks don't have kitchen tables, too. Our ideas and our policies are the best for everybody. Our message should reach out to everybody, too," he said.