Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg is just the Democrats’ “flavor of the week.”
During an interview on Fox News, Spicer said, “There are over 15 candidates that have jumped in already and they’re going to be a flavor of the week.”
“They’re going to go from one to another, but think about the contrast that you have,” he added. “One, he’s exploding on social media. In the polls, you have Biden and Sanders, the two old white guys leading the polls and then when it comes to social media interactions, the amount of chatter going on, he is up at the top.”
Spicer, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee, then posed the question if Democrats are heading into the 2020 election cycle with an identity problem, underscoring that the leading contenders in the field so far are long-term established politicians who are both old and white. He contended that the Democrats are struggling in finding the balance between someone with the experience to take on President Trump and someone who is young and can tout the politics espoused by the younger firebrand of newly elected Democrats.
[Opinion: Is the Pete Buttigieg boomlet about to go national?]
“The Democratic Party is really interesting when you look at the disparity between who their candidates are, right? You have the total amount of experience in Washington, Biden and Sanders who have been in the Senate a long time and then you’ve got these neophytes,” Spicer said. “The question that you’re asking yourself … what is the party searching for? On one hand one week they want the guy who has never done anything, barely got elected, 37 years old. On another hand, a 70-plus-year-old crowd who has been in Washington forever?”
A poll by Quinnipiac University released last week shows former Vice President Joe Biden leads the Democratic field for president, with Beto O’Rourke rising to third place. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., also climbed past established contenders.
The poll puts Biden, who has yet to announce a presidential run, on top with 29 percent of likely Democratic voters Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., clocked in at second with 19 percent. In third with 12 percent is O’Rourke, making his first big move in the polls and climbing above Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
Buttigieg, who has been gaining traction and notoriety in the media and throughout Democratic circles, rose to fifth, tied with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and edging out other well-established Democratic senators such as Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
