Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg says he would accept campaign contributions from 2020 rival Michael Bloomberg if he became the party’s nominee — but still took a jab at the billionaire.
When asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett during a town hall if the presidential hopeful would accept money from a billionaire businessman such as Bloomberg, Buttigieg referenced Bloomberg’s philanthropic efforts.
“Sure,” Buttigieg said of taking the mayor’s donation, “Look, right now, obviously I’m competing against Mayor Bloomberg. We have, I think, different approaches and different visions. But his philanthropy supported a million dollar effort in our community to help low-income people get transportation to go to work. I’m not going to reject that help because it came from a very wealthy person.
“This is the moment to bring everybody that we can into this effort, and I promise exactly one thing in return for any contribution, which is we’re going to take that contribution and use it to go beat Donald Trump.”
Buttigieg has come under fire from the more progressive candidates in the primary race, specifically Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for his decision to accept donations from billionaires and attend fundraisers hosted by billionaire donors.
When asked by Burnett if he believed Bloomberg was trying to buy the Democratic nomination by coating the airwaves with unlimited advertisements for his presidential bid, Buttigieg was straight to the point, saying, “Yes. Yes. I mean, what else do you call it?”
“What else do you call it when you dip into your endless reserves of millions and billions and don’t go through the process of campaigning in states like Nevada or Iowa or New Hampshire, humbling yourself, going into the diners and the backyards, looking eye to eye to voters?
“To try to just go around that by throwing colossal sums of money on television, shows you what’s wrong with our system. And I also believe it’s not the best way to pick our nominee or the next president,” the Democratic contender added.
