South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg went against the status quo Sunday as 19 Democrats prepared to take the stage for their five minutes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
While volunteers and supporters for 18 of the other candidates lined the street to the convention center where the cattle call is taking place, the 37-year-old candidate held a Picnic with Pete where he met with a more intimate group of supporters.
Buttigeg took stage for short remarks at the Greene Square Park, a grassy block in the otherwise concrete city that included interactive art sculptures and a water feature with children splashing around in the 80-degree heat.
The picnic also had a festival feel that included local food trucks, a face-painting station and several corn hole set ups.
During his remarks, the young mayor told the intergenerational crowd of about 450 supporters that the country is ready for a millennial president.
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg took the stage Saturday and played keyboard with the band at a Picnic with Pete in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
He also took the time to walk around and speak with some of the 450 or so supporters that attended the picnic a few blocks from the convention center where he would be speaking at the Democrat cattle call a few hours later
A 19-year-old supporter, Allison Myers, said she and her boyfriend drove five hours, from Missouri to see Buttigieg
Buttigieg said that ‘all generations are ready to see a new generation rise in American leadership.’
Allison Myers, a 19-year-old college student from Kansas City, Missouri, said she and her boyfriend drove five hours to hear and potentially meet Buttigieg. She added that they would stick around to find out what other candidates had to say, as well.
The new voter said the main reason she supports Buttigieg is because she feels he could work with Republicans to pass legislation that would benefit both parties.
Judy Goldberg, a mother and lawyer from Cedar Rapids, said she feels Buttigieg is ‘mature’ and well-spoken. She also said she would love to see him in a debate against President Donald Trump.
Goldberg came to the picnic with her 22-year-old daughter, both were wearing ‘Girls just want to have fundamental rights.’
A group of mostly gay cyclists from Cedar Rapids, who jokingly said they wouldn’t mind being called ‘Bikers for Buttigieg,’ also stopped by the picnic in the park.
Matthew Vanmaanen, one of the cyclists, said Buttigieg was the only candidate they were interested in seeing, so they stopped there during a training ride.
The longshot turned talk-of-the-nation recently took a huge jump in the polls when he earned 14 per cent support from likely caucus participants in an Iowa poll released Saturday.
‘Now we still have some work to do to get people used to the idea of the millennial Midwestern Mayor running for president. Although, it’s not quite as exotic as people thought it was in January if the polls are anything to go by,’ he said during his short remarks in reference to the new poll.
Mother and daughter Judy (left) and Kylie (right) Goldberg said Pete Buttigieg is their first choice, but said New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is their second
A group of mostly gay cyclers also stopped by the event during training for a long ride
He then walked around the park, talked with attendees and played corn hole with supporters.
Buttigieg also demonstrated his ability to play the keys when he joined the band on stage after briefly speaking with the press, and accompanied them in a few songs on the keyboard.
The youngest of 24 candidates told reporters at the picnic that appearing in Iowa, where he was scheduled to speak at the cattle call a few hours later, was to level with people at at time he believes many Americans have ‘pretty similar values.’
‘There’s a way to sort of show versus tell how you practice politics at a time when most of us have pretty similar values,’ Buttigieg said while speaking with the press.
‘Tone and messenger is half the battle,’ he said, possibly taking a subtle strike at the current president, who is known for his forthright demeanor, ‘and hopefully people who maybe haven’t followed what I have to say yet would have a chance to get an understanding of how I would work on a debate stage and what kind of president I would be.’
While Buttigieg held his picnic, other candidates remained at large until directly before the cattle call.
As Buttigieg held the intimate gathering in the sunny park, supporters of other candidates lined the streets to the convention center and shouted chants respective to their preferred candidate
Supporters for New Jersey Senator Cory Booker
Their supporters rivaled one another in signs and chants, competing to be louder than those supporting other Democratic candidates.
In several earlier polls, Buttigieg was earning about 1 per cent of support from likely Democratic primary voters, but he now rivals the likes of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who also earned 14 per cent in the Iowa poll.
‘It’s very encouraging,’ Buttigieg said of the poll, ‘but of course it’s very early.
‘So we’ve got a lot of work to do,’ he continued. ‘Now we got to make sure we got the ground game, the organization and the relationships that are really going to make it possible to make good on that early support. But I don’t think there’s any question that we’re in the contest.’
In the poll, front-runner Joe Biden lost some steam in his lead and only beat out the usual No. 2 poller Bernie Sanders by 8 percentage points.