Buttigieg Makes Final Iowa Pitch

(DES MOINES, Ia.) – Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has wrapped up his Iowa caucus campaign with a pair of Sunday rallies.

In recent days, Buttigieg has called out former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by name, arguing Democrats must nominate a fresh face if they hope to win in November. While he made the same argument in thunderous rallies in school gyms in Coralville and Des Moines, he let audiences fill in the blanks of who the alternatives would be. And with tensions between supporters of Sanders and Hillary Clinton bubbling up again, he warned against a rerun of Democrats’ infighting of four years ago.

Instead, Buttigieg urged crowds to keep their focus on defeating President Trump, asking, “Are we ready to say goodbye to the chaos and the corruption? Are we ready to say goodbye to the cruelty and division?”

Buttigieg picked up at least one caucus vote Sunday. Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague, who had supported Cory Booker, gave Buttigieg an onstage endorsement. And a Coralville woman who described herself as a disgruntled former Republican congressional staffer tweeted that Buttigieg won her over with his answer to her question about why independent Republicans should support him rather than Biden. Buttigieg pledged to treat even opposing views with respect, and says he’d emphasize issues where he says majorities of Democrats and Republicans agree, including making sure everyone has health insurance and requiring background checks for gun sales.

Only seven of the 11 Democratic candidates are actively contesting Iowa. California billionaire Tom Steyer has a Monday morning gathering with volunteers, but the rest are off the campaaign trail until what they hope will be victory parties in Des Moines Monday night. Buttigieg and Biden will be gathering less than half a mile apart, on the campus of Drake University.

Pete Buttigieg onstage atr a campaign-closing rally in Des Moines. (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)