Democratic Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg talked about how his sexuality may play with some voters in an interview with NBC’s Meet The Press yesterday.
Talking with Chuck Todd, Buttigieg addressed a video that went viral last week. It showed a woman in Iowa who had voted for Buttigieg asking if she could take her vote back after learning that he is married to a man.
Related: Iowa woman loses it after voting for Mayor Pete and then learning… he’s gay!?!?
Chuck said to Buttigieg, “There’s going to be voters like that … There’s some voter who walks into the booth and just doesn’t pull the lever simply because they have an issue with your private life. What do you say to those concerns?”
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Buttigieg replied, “The first is what I have to say to that voter, which is I’m saddened that she sees things that way but I’m running to be her president too.
“No matter who she votes for as president, I’m going to get up in the morning and try to do a good job for her and for every American.
“Look, the reality is prejudice is still out there and you’ve got to deal with it. I would not have been able to get re-elected where I did in Mike Pence’s Indiana if people were not able to look past that.
“Every time somebody seeks to break a barrier, pundits try to make it about electability.”
Chuck interrupted at this point to ask, “Have you taken a moment to appreciate the history that you’ve made?”
“There’s not a lot of time for reflection in a campaign,” says Buttigieg. “There was a moment before we went out when [husband] Chasten pulled me in and reminded me what this means for some kid peeking around the closet door wondering if this country has a place for them.
“I didn’t set out to be the gay president, but certainly seeing what this means is really meaningful and really powerful.”
The conversation takes place around the 8.15 mark.
In the rest of the interview, Buttigieg talks about his political record and why he believes he’s the candidate to beat Donald Trump.
He also talked about a political campaign video released last week by Joe Biden, which contrasted Biden’s record in the White House as Vice President with Buttigieg’s record as mayor in South Bend.
The video savagely portrayed Buttigieg as inexperienced and questioned his standing in the eyes of African-American communities.
“The voters who know me best in the African-American community, those in South Bend community, those in South Bend are backing me,” claimed Buttigieg in response, saying that black unemployment and black poverty had been reduced in South Bend during his time as Mayor.
Related: Pete Buttigieg declares victory in Iowa… but the jury’s still out
Buttigieg appears to have narrowly beaten Bernie in last week’s Iowa Caucus over by the slimmest of margins (26.2% to 26.1%), although at the time of writing, Sanders may be seeking a partial re-canvass of the results and no official result has been declared
Tomorrow, the Democratic frontrunners again go head-to-head in the New Hampshire Primary. Opinion polls currently have Sanders leading in New Hampshire (at 27%), followed by Buttigieg (19%), Amy Klobuchar (14%), Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden (both on 12%).
Kangol2
In this instance you can’t blame it on Black voters because that clueless homophobic dunderhead was white as early January snow.
I do think Buttigieg is going to face anti-gay backlash across the board, especially in certain regions of the US (the South, but also the West), though he has shown he is going to get far more support, in terms of finances and votes, than homophobes like. Whether he finished first or second in Iowa, he still made history. I compare his run to Obama’s first run, particularly the 2008 general election, when Obama actually received only 43% of the White vote to McCain’s 55%, but he received enough support from all other voters to win the popular and electoral vote totals by a significant margin, 53% to 45%. Obama’s White support fell even more in 2012, and he still beat Romney comfortably. Many lazy journalists still like to talk about Obama winning a majority of White voters, and liberals patted themselves on the back for their overwhelming support of Obama, but the actually factual stats belie this.
With Buttigieg, I suspect we’ll see him do well in the upcoming contests, but there will be voters who vote against him not because they prefer another candidate (Sanders, Warren, Yang, etc.) more or disagree with him on policy grounds (he’s too neoliberal, etc.), but because he’s an out gay man in a loving marriage to another gay man. Of course the anti-gay folks will admit this, but some voters who aren’t clueless like that Iowa woman may not, though afterwards they’ll claim, as they did with Obama, that they voted for him, facts be damned.
Cam
Just having someone out running who kissed their same sex partner on stage is massive.
dhmonarch89
sadly, I think there will be more voters like that- they just won’t say so publicly…People may say they’re ready for a gay President, but when they get in the voting booth, they may not vote that way…there was a black politican back in the 70s/80s named Tom Bradley. He was Mayor of LA…he ran for Governor of Calirnia twice and lost both times after polls showed him ahead and people saying they were ready for a black Governor- but once they got in the booth, they didn’t vote for him… Pete’s numbers are the weakest agianst Trump of all the candidates. Any margin over Trump ANY candidate had should be cut in half because the reverse is true for Trump- people are ashamed to say they would vote for him, but do…so a 5 point lead is really 2.5 over him, then you factor in Russia and it’s tied- Pete’s only 1-2 points over Trump…he’s too inexperienced and too risky and it’s too important to get rid of Trump!
Doug
If Pete doesn’t win the primaries, I wish whoever does would consider him as VP. I think he’d be great.
winemaker
I can’t believe this woman didn’t know Pete is gay and married to his same sex partner. Pete’s been open since day one in his campaign so if she was ignorant of this, tough! As to rescinding her vote, ok’ if it hasn’t been tabulated yet, but once it’s been deposited in the sealed box, it’s tabulated so, tough SHIT. I worked a polling station years ago and there was a provision if a voter misvoted, like voted for the wring measure or candidate, they gave us back the ballot, we wrote spoiled across the front and we gave ’em a second ballot. If they screwed up that one, like before tough SHIT! All ballots have control numbers so votes aren’t counted more than once.
winemaker
All i can say is,God help us if the ‘free this and free that’ giveaway buffoons sanders or warren get in, we’ll all be screwed. These fools must think the American voters are stupid and believe the BS these clowns are throwing around that all this will be paid for by the wealthy and corporations, yeah right!. Give the thinking among us a break. This BS has been thrown around before, stupid people believed the nonsense and the taxpayers got stuck with the bills. My grandparents and parents had a saying, having survived the depression and both world wars, it went like this and is timeless: ‘you don’t work or contribute something, you don’t eat’ About time the gravy train stopped and people realize the taxpayers don’t owe you a living, period! Bottom line all ‘swag’ this will be paid for by the overtaxed taxpayers pure and simple. Frankly I’m sick and tired of having to pay for all this free stuff for dolts too lazy to get off their butts and get a job and surely I’m not alone in feeling this way
cliche guevara
@winemaker
The irony of you calling people buffoons and stupid after unleashing two incoherent rants is rich. For a love of God get a copy editor.
ggore
I am amazed that Trump has not yet come out with some vile nickname for Buttigieg. It is just a matter of time before he does, to be sure, but that could backfire on Trump with a lot of voters.
cliche guevara
He has, it’s Alfred E. Neuman. Buttigieg handled it perfectly.
JamJewel
Gimme a break! Practically all Republicans and/or #Drumpfers are low information voters, with what has come to be known as ‘Knowledge Neglect!’ If you consider that 8% less voters turned out in 2016 than in 2008, the odds of having some Democrats and Independents like that are very high.
Thad
Sunday’s Atlantic City Press had a feature story about one of Mayor Pete’s team, a black woman originally from Atlantic City. She says 40% of her fellow organizers are women of color…and both of the two black mayors in Iowa endorsed Mayor Pete.
Invader7
Yep : the typical idiotic white woman !!!