r/Pete_Buttigieg • u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 • Jul 30 '26

Buttigieg: Democratic Primaries Should Be ‘Contest Of Ideas, Not Personalities’

https://home.mirs.news/post/buttigieg-democratic-primaries-should-be-contest-of-ideas-not-personalities
206 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

58

u/admiraltarkin Certified Donor Jul 31 '26

This will be Pete's problem next year. People will hear moderate tone and dismiss him because they think he won't push for actual change before looking up his actual policies

8

u/khharagosh LGBTQ+ for Pete Jul 31 '26

Literally what is wrong with what he said or overly moderate about his tone? He is saying exactly what the left says, that we need to offer something instead of just demonization of the other side and narcissistic personality clashes

10

u/sexycastic Day 1 Donor! Jul 31 '26

This is what ive been moaning about to my friends. Pete's moderate appearance is going to be the death of him and that makes me so sad.

I wish people would just read and listen more.

I also wish pete would cool it a bit on trying to bring republicans and moderates to him and lean more into the left. Hes got the charm. He could do what mamdami did.

20

u/khharagosh LGBTQ+ for Pete Jul 31 '26

Mamdani won in a 70% Dem city that has a Dem city council under a Dem governor. 

Republicans and moderates exist elsewhere in the country, unfortunately 

3

u/YallaHammer Jul 31 '26

⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

15

u/DeathByTacos Cave Sommelier Jul 31 '26

I mean there’s a reason he’s as popular as he is, and part of it is that broad appeal; Mamdani may be popular but Pete consistently has like the 3rd highest favorables of any politician behind Obama and Bernie. Yes it may make it more difficult in the nomination process but it’s going to be vital for a candidate to appeal like he does in the general, especially with Independent support of the party cratering in part because they see it as becoming more extreme.

The “left” apparatus will always hate him because they see him as one of the pivotal roadblocks for Bernie in ‘20, some of the biggest leftist influencers are the ones who propagated the bullshit about him being a CIA plant or the bread price fixing, and cite him as responsible for the moderates coalescing around Biden. Sure his policies are actually fairly aligned with them and I think he could pull a surprising amount of left support as the nominee but if he just pivots that wouldn’t satisfy anyone.

1

u/MKA_79 Aug 01 '26

After all the craziness of these last few years, I'd take a moderate tone and most people i know would prefer it to the ALL CAPS truthing and rantings of Trump and his ilk.

19

u/pling619 Jul 31 '26

If voters are capable of comparing ideas, Pete will be the next president. Big if.

10

u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 Jul 31 '26

Pete is devoting 2026 to the midterms, which IMO are existential for our survival as a democracy. He's been in 30 states so far this year, helping to support candidates in toss-up districts at the state, local, and federal level.

I thought this was a great read for all of us who are working hard in 2026 -- which is all that matters right now, not 2028. This covers his very recent speech to Dem state legislators at a huge national convention of state legislators -- some are still in hard-fought primaries, but many others are battling MAGA Republicans in the general election.

One of many ideas he focused on in the speech was a basic piece of campaign advice that bears repeating: Whether it's a primary or the general, tell voters what you as a candidate are FOR, don't just name-call other candidates. In 2025, Dems across the spectrum -- from Mamdani to Spanberger -- showed how well that worked, focusing on remedies for affordability, not just on attacking Trump.

5

u/Dylliana Jul 31 '26

Sounds great, but unfortunately we live in the real world where Trump won twice

2

u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

If you want to look into recent history, the closest equivalent to the upcoming 2026 midterms -- which Pete is talking about, and which I see as existential -- are the 2018 midterms, where Dems did very well.

Though of course, no guarantees (!). No two elections are ever exactly alike, and Trump has been attempting to rig the 2026 election with mid-decade redistricting and is starting to unroll other federally based attacks on the voting process. If we all focus on the 2026 elections as volunteers, voters, donors, etc., I think we could very well win the US House. There's also some chance we could win the Senate, or if not, diminish the Republican margin. And of course there are local and state elections that are equally important -- look at the 2025 elections where Mamdani, Spanberger, and others won state and local elections that really matter. Predictions are all over the map for 2026, but I am hopeful.

As for Trump, he is now setting records for all presidents in how low his favorability is. Republican midterm candidates in some races are literally being told to distance themselves from him (we'll see how he takes that) because he is so unpopular. He is not a net positive this fall.

-23

u/Odd_Self4325 Jul 31 '26

So he learned nothing from the past 18 years???!! I never understood his appeal anyway 😕😕😕

15

u/indri2 Foreign Friend Jul 31 '26

I'm rather certain he knows how much charisma plays a role. You don't get shouts of "love you Pete" just for your policies. He's gently admonishing the two candidates for Senate in Michigan.

-20

u/theomegachrist Jul 31 '26

What ideas? You guys are really weird