Pete Buttigieg is positioning himself as Joe Biden


Pete Buttigieg is just waiting for Joe Biden to flop.
The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and 2020 presidential candidate would rather focus on health care than impeachment. The Democrat touts his small-town roots and often shares that he's still well in the middle class. And he's unapologetically campaigning with a call to "re-center our politics." It all makes Buttigieg essentially a younger version of the former vice president, and he's just looking for an opportunity to take Biden's front-running place, Bloomberg reports.
With Biden's newfound place in President Trump's Ukraine scandal, that vision may actually come to fruition. Biden's stumbling debate performances and endless gaffe stream have already cost him his top spot in a number of polls, and the uncertainty of his involvement with his son's business dealings in Ukraine could degrade him even further.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Of course, that top polling spot has typically fallen to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and not Buttigieg. That's where Iowa makes the difference. Buttigieg has never really cracked the fourth-place slot in nationwide and early-state polls, but in a recent Iowa poll, he's statistically tied with Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for second. Iowa is also "an overwhelmingly white state kicking off a race in which [Buttigieg] has struggled with non-white voters," making it even more of a boon, Bloomberg writes. The following primaries and caucuses don't look as promising, meaning Buttigieg needs to use Iowa as his time to shine.
Read more about Buttigieg's Biden-esque campaign at Bloomberg.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s void
Feature Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
-
Rebrands: Bringing back the War Department
Feature Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?
Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants