CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg returned to Iowa on Tuesday with some subtle and not-so-subtle messages about what’s changed since he ran in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential caucuses.
Above all, his speech sounded like he was preparing for a second White House bid. Buttigieg gave a strident critique of President Donald Trump’s administration while demanding Democrats make their agenda clear and reach out to people who disagree with them.
The combination rally and policy chat toggled between questions about the future of the Democratic Party, both nationally and in Iowa, after three consecutive elections where Donald Trump has carried the once-competitive swing state.
As much as an indictment of the first months of the second Trump administration, Buttigieg argued Democrats’ reemergence as a leading national party must come with a concise telling of what they support.
“There’s this theory that we should just hang back and let them screw up. I disagree,” he said. Buttigieg acknowledged Democrats need to revisit some of their policy principles without naming any.
But he pivoted quickly to note, “We need to be in touch with our first principles, what we would be doing if we were in charge.” Among them, he argued, was to restore a federal right for a woman to receive an abortion, he said, prompting a 30-second standing ovation.
