Pete Buttigieg campaigns for votes in Washington
Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter
Former Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg stopped in downtown Washington Saturday to campaign for Joe Biden.
Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter
Former Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg campaigns for Joe Biden in downtown Washington Saturday.
Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter
Volunteer Heidi Hess takes the temperature of Democratic Committee Chair Claudia Wagner Saturday during Pete Buttigieg’s campaign stop in Washington.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg said Saturday the world will be watching Pennsylvania’s election results this Tuesday, and that every vote matters “in an election where the future of our country could come down to a few votes per precinct.”
In the last days before the general election, Buttigieg has been visiting battleground states to turn out the vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He made three stops in Southwestern Pennsylvania on Saturday, including at the Democratic Elections and Voters Registration office in Washington.
Buttigieg emphasized the importance of voter turnout, especially in Pennsylvania, a state that was key to President Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in 2016, when he won here by roughly one point.
Polls show a 5% lead for Biden in Pennsylvania. But they also showed Trump trailing in the Keystone State four years ago, and the race for the state’s electoral votes likely will be tight.
“This is our best moment to do something about (the election) because your moment of maximum power is when you fill out that ballot,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg touted Biden’s ability to unite a divided nation and to provide the leadership that guides the country through the coronavirus pandemic.
“You think this country was divided in 2016? Look how divided we are now. We were worried about some of us being left behind in the economy in 2016. Look at 2020, when the president’s on track to be the worst jobs president since Herbert Hoover,” said Buttigieg. “We were worried about the ability to come together across racial lines in 2016. Look at what it means now to have a president of the United States who can’t bring himself to say the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ or even condemn a white supremacist group. That ought to be horrifying to every conservative, and every liberal as well as every independent in this country.”
Buttigieg described the pandemic as “the worst mass casualty event in this country since World War II,” and criticized Trump’s response to the crisis, which has claimed more than 230,000 American lives.
“We can’t go on this way. This president’s saying it’s just fine, saying you can trust him and not the doctors. I know who to trust when it comes to getting out of this mess, and it’s not going to be Donald J. Trump,” said Buttigieg, who addressed a small, socially distanced crowd of supporters and volunteers.
Buttigieg said Biden will bring competence and decency to the White House, and will restore civility and provide steadiness at a tumultuous time.
The current administration, he contended, has fallen short on several issues, from health care to social equality. He encouraged Republicans and independents who “see that what’s going on is as offensive to their values as to liberal or progressive values” to vote for Biden.
“The reason leadership matters so much is because good leaders draw out what is best in us. That’s what it means when I hear Joe Biden talk about redeeming the soul of this nation,” said Buttigieg, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan. “It’s about the way that the president can call us to our highest values. That’s what I’m for. That’s what I’m excited for.”