Castro blindsides Buttigieg over Chicago donation

Julián Castro rebuked Pete Buttigieg in a fundraising email to supporters Friday, criticizing the Indiana mayor over his decision to accept funds from a former Chicago city attorney involved in the botched handling of the police shooting of teen Laquan McDonald.

Castro was the first Democratic presidential candidate to call out Buttigieg for his connection to Steve Patton, who made a $5,600 donation to the Buttigieg campaign in June and was scheduled to co-host a fundraising event Friday.

As city attorney, Patton was a key player in the effort to withhold footage of McDonald’s death. The Associated Press reported on Friday that Patton’s donation would be returned to him and that his name was removed as a sponsor of the fundraiser.

“I applaud Mayor Buttigieg for returning the contribution, but at a time where police violence remains such a critical issue, it shouldn’t take four months to return such a problematic contribution,” Castro wrote.

The former Housing and Urban Development secretary, who has struggled to gain traction in the primary, has made police violence a central message of his campaign. Though he had one of the shortest speaking times during Tuesday’s presidential debate, Castro used his limited window to talk almost exclusively about police violence in his answers about gun regulation.

Castro has been especially focused on issues of social justice and criminal justice reform both on the debate stage and campaign trail this year, and his campaign has highlighted the fact that he is one of the few candidates to pay such close attention to those issues.

"While other campaigns focused on attacking bold ideas and the frontrunners in the last debate, I was the only one to highlight police violence, the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, and I was the only candidate to point out the hypocrisy of letting ISIS fighters run free in Syria while keeping innocent children in cages at our southern border," Castro wrote in the email.

His mention of the men and women who have been killed by police officers have connected with activists and national organizations who have called for a sharper public message from presidential candidates on issues relating to black and Latino communities.

Castro has mentioned the names of gun violence victims in almost every one of his major public appearances, including his presidential announcement speech.

During June’s Democratic debate Castro pointed to high-profile victims of police shootings like Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice. At MSNBC’s Gun Safety Forum in September he held up Laquan McDonald as an example of police violence as gun violence.

“Y’all saw a couple days ago what happened to Atatiana Jefferson in Fort Worth,” Castro said in Tuesday’s debate, alluding to the early October killing of a young woman at the hands of law enforcement. “I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door to door in certain communities because police violence is also gun violence and we need to address that.”

Responses from activists and other viewers to Castro’s remarks catapulted his “police violence is also gun violence” soundbite to the most tweeted about moment of the evening, according to AdWeek.

Castro’s reference to Jefferson also resulted in increased traffic to his campaign website and a spike in fundraising, according to his campaign. Following his debate performance, his campaign traveled to Iowa to meet with community organizers and discuss policing and his plans for criminal justice reform.

Castro, who is polling at 1% nationally, has not yet released his complete criminal justice reform plan but said during a racial profiling roundtable with organizers in Des Moines on Friday that he planned to do so before the end of the month.

Those present for the discussion said his commitment to mitigating police violence is more clearly demonstrated than most other candidates.

“I can’t think of a candidate other than [California Sen. Kamala] Harris who’s really talking about policing. I think that’s key,” said Kameron Middlebrooks, president of the NAACP’s Des Moines chapter, who attended a racial profiling roundtable with Castro. “If he can continue to get this message through, this could be something that really resonates. It’s not high on people’s minds as the weeks follow [the debates].”

Castro is not alone in offering plans to monitor and mitigate police violence into their policy platforms. Harris’ criminal justice plan includes increased investigations into police misconduct and support of legislation to end racial profiling.

Buttigieg, who is polling at 1% with black voters, held meetings with social justice activists over the summer to discuss the fallout behind a fatal police shooting in South Bend, Ind., where he serves as mayor. In July, he released a Douglass Plan to mitigate racial inequality with a specific focus on African Americans.

“Transparency and justice for Laquan McDonald is more important than a campaign contribution. We are returning the money he contributed to the campaign and the money he has collected. He is no longer a co-host for the event and will not be attending,” said Chris Meagher, Buttigieg‘s national press secretary.

Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, an organization that advocates for increasing black voting power, said Castro has been out front on the issue of police violence.

"Castro is right on this: police violence is very much a part of the gun violence epidemic,” she said in a statement to POLITICO. “And this isn’t the first time he’s been right on this issue. It’s deeply meaningful to hear him honor the memory and say the names of the victims of police violence in campaign speeches and at every debate, something we didn’t see in 2016. The rest of the candidates should follow."

Nolan McCaskill contributed to this report.