Former President Barack Obama’s “body man” Reggie Love endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg for president on Thursday.
“A lot of what is said about Pete echoes what critics said about presidential candidate Barack Obama — too young, too different, maybe another time — but I believe there is never a better time to fight for change than right now,” Love said in a statement reported by CNN.
Love worked with Obama for about five years before retiring, even writing a book about his experiences.
“No matter what, he knew he could trust me,” he wrote. “Beyond that, I was the only other brother working on the first floor of the West Wing, in the bubble every day.”
The Buttigieg campaign is working hard to get more black Democrat support from the Democrat Party despite former Vice President Joe Biden’s big lead among African Americans.
Love said that Buttigieg’s youth was encouraging, saying he could “galvanize a new electoral body that is a more accurate representation of what America actually is.”
The campaign also announced two other endorsements from former Obama officials, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, and former communications director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Linda Douglass.