Pete Buttigieg indirectly responded to Joe Biden’s negative video that painted him as inexperienced.
“I also hear some folks saying, ‘What business does a mayor of South Bend, Indiana, have running for president?'” the 2020 Democrat said at a town hall in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Saturday, according to an email.
“To which I say, that is very much the point,” he continued. “There are so many communities, rural areas, small towns, industrial cities, and even pockets of our biggest cities who have felt completely left behind by the ways of Washington and who are tired of being reduced to a punchline by Washington politicians.”
Earlier on Saturday, Biden’s campaign released a digital ad that contrasted the former vice president’s resume with that of the 38-year-old former mayor.
“Joe Biden helped lead the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which gave healthcare to 20 million people. And when parkgoers called on Pete Buttigieg, he installed decorative lights under bridges giving citizens of South Bend colorfully illuminated rivers,” a narrator in a portion of the ad said.
Former Mayor Pete doesn’t think very highly of the Obama-Biden record. Let’s compare. pic.twitter.com/132TB7MHaq
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) February 8, 2020
Biden, 77, has gone on the attack against his Democratic presidential primary rivals Buttigieg and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, since he ranked in fourth place after Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
Buttigieg argued that his experience would help him take on President Trump in a general election.
“Wouldn’t it be a good thing for a president who cuts taxes for corporations and the wealthy but pretends to stand for the forgotten men and women of the so-called Rust Belt to have to stand next to somebody who actually lives in a middle-class neighborhood in the industrial Midwest and can speak to what communities from South Bend to Claremont are going through in turning our futures around and building up a better economic life?” Buttigieg said Saturday.
A Buttigieg campaign spokesman directly responded to the Biden video by saying it “speaks more to where he currently stands in this race than it does about Pete’s perspective as a mayor and veteran.”
