Dec 23, 2019

Buttigieg picks up more than 200 foreign policy endorsements

Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Pete Buttigieg announced Monday that he received endorsements from more than 200 foreign policy and national security officials, per USA Today.

Why it matters: It's another way for the South Bend, Ind., mayor to take aim at Joe Biden as his list includes a diverse group of Obama administration alumni described as the "next generation of foreign policy leaders" by the Buttigieg campaign's foreign policy head.

Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan as a Navy intelligence officer, has faced skepticism about his foreign policy chops as mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana.
Biden similarly released a number of top-level Obama administration foreign policy endorsements last month, per the Washington Post. He has also received the endorsement of former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry.

The big picture: Targeting Obama alumni for endorsements is a strategy that much of the wide Democratic field is pursuing in order to target Biden. Elizabeth Warren released her own list of 200+ Obama alumni endorsements last week.

Read the full list of endorsements:

Go deeper: Buttigieg fundraiser dangles influence for cash

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Axios

Buttigieg calls Biden's Iraq War vote "worst foreign policy decision of my lifetime"

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said on the "Iowa Press" television program Sunday that Joe Biden's vote to authorize the 2003 invasion of Iraq is an example of "why years in Washington is not always the same thing as judgment," AP reports.

“He supported the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime, which was the decision to invade Iraq.”

— Pete Buttigieg

Go deeperDec 29, 2019

Ursula Perano

Buttigieg's hand-picked successor to take over as South Bend mayor

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

With a new year comes a new title for 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg: former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The big picture: Buttigieg's term as mayor will end Wednesday as James Mueller, who served in Buttigieg's administration as chief of staff, is set to be sworn in. Buttigieg announced he would not run for re-election in 2018.

Go deeperJan 1, 2020

Alexi McCammond

Democratic "moderates" are liberal as ever

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg are considered the leading 2020 Democratic moderates, but even they have taken positions to the left of Barack Obama — illuminating the liberal drift of the entire party.

Why it matters: In earlier cycles, both men would have been labeled liberals based on their platforms and biographies. The fact that they're called centrists now in the media shows how much the Democratic Party has shifted in a polarized era — just as the Republican Party has been reinvented under President Trump.

Go deeperJan 17, 2020