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Pete Buttigeig on Wednesday praised a campaign volunteer who responded to a homophobic Iowa caucusgoer’s decision to rescind her support after learning that Buttigieg is in a same-sex marriage.
“How real is that? How big of an issue is that for you?” MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle asked the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, about the now-viral encounter.
Buttigieg, who has been married to Chasten Buttigieg since 2018, said he “felt proud of our organizer volunteer,” precinct captain Nikki van den Heever, “who on my behalf was speaking to her and speaking to her with respect.”
Van den Heever can be seen in the video calmly responding after the caucusgoer, who was shocked to learn about Buttigieg’s sexual orientation, saying she doesn’t “want anybody like that in the White House”
“The whole point of it is, though, he’s a human being, right? Just like you and me, and it shouldn’t really matter,” van den Heever responded to the woman.
Buttigieg said van den Heever was “living out the values that this campaign has been asking our volunteers and organizers to live by the whole time, and trying to reach out in the name of compassion to that woman’s heart.”
“I’m sad to see that it doesn’t seem that she reached her, but I also think that that is part of what change looks like — deep real change is looking people eye to eye and engaging them with compassion,” he added.
“If someone like me in Indiana, while Mike Pence was governor, could come out and get re-elected with 80 percent of the vote, then anywhere in America, I believe people can move past old prejudices, especially when the election at the end of the day is not about me or about this president,” Buttigieg said. “It’s about the voters’ questions of how their lives will be shaped by the choice they’re about to make.”
As of Thursday at noon, with 96.9 percent of precincts reporting, Buttigieg and Sanders were virtually tied for first in the Iowa caucuses, with 26.2 and 26 percent of the votes, respectively.
Ruhle also asked Buttigieg if he ever could have imagined as a 15-year-old boy becoming president of the United States.
A lot of people say this country is moving backwards and that no progress is being made. Now we have an openly gay Democratic frontrunner in the race for president. @PeteButtigieg says we’re moving in the direction of inclusion and decency. pic.twitter.com/cGzZSPkb8N
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) February 6, 2020
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