President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team deleted a primary election ad that slammed Pete Buttigieg’s lack of experience now that the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor has been nominated to be Biden’s secretary for the Department of Transportation.
“Both Vice President Biden and former Mayor Buttigieg have taken on tough fights. Under threat of a nuclear Iran, Joe Biden helped to negotiate the Iran deal,” the deleted ad said. “And under the threat of disappearing pets, Buttigieg negotiated lighter licensing regulations on pet chip scanners.”
The ad switches back and forth between dramatic music when Biden’s accomplishments are highlighted and slower music when Buttigieg’s accomplishments are listed.
“Both Vice President Biden and former Mayor Pete have helped shape our economy,” the ad continued. “Joe Biden helped save the auto industry, which revitalized the economy of the Midwest and led the passage and implementation of the recovery act, saving our economy from a depression. Pete Buttigieg revitalized the sidewalks of downtown South Bend by laying out decorative brick.”
The ad concluded by noting Buttigieg’s decision to fire South Bend’s first black police chief and it’s black fire chief.
“We’re electing a president,” the ad said. “What you’ve done matters.”
Buttigieg’s campaign fired back at Biden after the ad was released, calling it a “classic Washington-style of politics.”
“While Washington politics trivializes what goes on in communities like South Bend, South Bend residents who now have better jobs, rising income and new life in their city don’t think their lives are a Washington politician’s punchline,” the campaign said in a statement.
But now that the drama of the primary is behind the two, Biden sang a different tune about his new nominee’s record.
“He speaks to the best of who we are as a nation,” Biden tweeted Tuesday. “I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because he’s equipped to take on the challenges at the intersection of jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate.”
Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
