Buttigieg on plan to win over Republicans: ‘I’m not trying to trick anybody’ – Washington Examiner

2020 Democrat Pete Buttigieg assured attendees and viewers of a Fox News town hall that he is not trying to trick Republicans into supporting him even though he aims to woo them.

"I'm meeting a lot of what I like to call 'future former Republicans' who are coming to my events. I'm not pretending we are going to agree on everything; I'm not trying to trick anybody," the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor said on Sunday. "But my message is that we can at least agree on this: That, if you're having trouble looking your kids in the eye and explaining this presidency to them, that you have a choice."

With one week until the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, Buttigieg, 38, aims to gain support from voters who cast their ballots for President Trump in 2016. Part of his reasoning is that he is from the Midwest, an area that Democrats need to win in 2020 to secure the White House.

Buttigieg said he was effectively demonstrating his strategy by appearing on Fox News, a network that many Democratic presidential candidates, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have actively avoided.

"We are doing it right now. This network is known for having a lot of more conservative viewers. But I don't think that you have to be a Democrat to see what is wrong with this president and this presidency," Buttigieg said.

He continued: "If there's an American majority that can agree on what we're against, there is an even bigger majority that agrees on what we are for. Remember, I'm proposing things that most Americans, even in conservative states, think we ought to do: raising wages, making sure that corporations pay their fair share in taxes, delivering paid family leave, doing something about gun violence. You know, more than 80% of Republicans think we ought at least to be doing universal background checks."

Buttigieg is in third place in the RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls with 17.8% support, while former Vice President Joe Biden holds 21% support and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has 20.6%. Many analysts believe a strong showing in Iowa is critical for Buttigieg's path to winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

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Buttigieg on plan to win over Republicans: 'I'm not trying to trick anybody' - Washington Examiner