MILWAUKEE — As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) gets underway in Chicago, party supporters in Madison are preparing to go door-to-door this weekend for all the candidates on the November ballot.
To increase the number of volunteers, Pete Buttigieg stopped by the local organizing office on the west side of the city on Sunday.
While Republicans are calling the energy surrounding the Harris-Walz ticket a honeymoon phase, Buttigieg said in a one-on-one interview with Spectrum News that if that’s the case, it’s been a long phase and the party might as well keep going until November.
Along with his husband Chasten and Senator Tammy Baldwin, Buttigieg spoke to over a hundred volunteers who were ready to lend a hand.
When asked to sum up the state of the Democratic Party in a single word, Buttigieg replied: “energized.”
“There’s just an incredible energy. I’ve felt it in the field offices. We feel it as we travel around the country, certainly at the Democratic Convention, just an extraordinary dynamic,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg called it “underdog energy,” a nickname that makes sense when you think about 2020, when Harris peaked at 15% in the national polls.
Pete Buttigieg discusses the Democratic National Convention with Spectrum News 1 political anchor Anthony DaBruzzi. (Spectrum News 1/Mandy Hague)
“The Democratic Party today is not known for coming to agreement quickly and easily, so I think it really says something that she was able to consolidate our party in a matter of hours,” Buttigieg said. “I think it speaks to her strength as a leader. I think it speaks to how she used the vice presidency to develop her vision of where our country needs to go.”
Unity and enthusiasm are things both parties want to achieve by the end of their nominating conventions. But the Democrats, including Buttigieg, have something else on their list.
“I think the other thing is to try to use the opportunity to reach out to people who are still thinking about how they’re going to vote,” Buttigieg said. “Look, not everyone has their minds made up right now, and I think a lot of people who normally vote Republican are deeply disturbed by what they’ve seen from their own party over the last few years, particularly with a guy like Donald Trump at the top of the ballot box — even before he became a convicted criminal. We need to reach out to them and tell them that even if we don’t agree on every issue or every idea, we offer a vision of the future that they can feel welcome in.”
