A black leader from Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s town of South Bend, Indiana, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president rather than Buttigieg.

Council Vice President Oliver Davis, who is the longest-serving African-American man on the South Bend Common Council, will endorse Biden over Buttigieg, he told Politico. Davis says he will do so because Biden is more experienced and “has an understanding of the Midwest.”

“When you’re flying in the middle of a storm, you want to make sure you have steady, experienced leadership,” Davis told Politico. “I believe that Vice President Biden has demonstrated throughout the years by having a steady hand, he can help lead us through these times, and with all of the challenges we face nationally and now even internationally, he has the relationships, has the skills, and I think he can bring us together in different ways.”

Davis also said that Buttigieg’s lack of support from voters of color “is not a new problem for him,” and said he sincerely doubts that Buttigieg could become president of the United States with his current low levels of support from voters of color.

“For us, this has been a consistent issue that has not gone away,” Davis told Politico.

The South Bend council member added that Buttigieg failed to support him when he and other council members fought for LGBT issues during Davis’s 2010 run for state treasurer, which Davis lost. He added that he has sought to give Buttigieg advice on a number of issues.

“If he had followed our advice and had worked with a diverse team of leadership with the police department, with the fire department, with the purchasing, with those kind of things that we have officially written to him … if he had done that with the skills and talent he has already put together, who would be able to beat him?” Davis asked Politico. “That’s the frustration where I stand on that.”

The Biden and Buttigieg campaigns did not yet respond to requests for comment.

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Image: Reuters.