Buttigieg returns to Iowa for veterans’ town hall amid talk of another White House bid
By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press CEDAR RAPIDS Iowa AP Pete Buttigieg returns to Iowa on Tuesday for an event focused on veterans six years after he burst onto the national political stage with a strong run ahead of the state s leadoff presidential caucuses Buttigieg a former intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves who served in Afghanistan will headline a town hall in Cedar Rapids sponsored by the Democratic political organization VoteVets which is focusing on President Donald Trump s cuts to federal agencies and how they affect veterans and military families While the -year-old former transportation secretary has not certified he will make a second White House run he has tangled with Trump online and has spoken out about changes he wants to see in the Democratic Party Related Articles FDA and RFK Jr aim to remove fluoride supplements used to protect kids teeth Trump administration cuts another M in grants to Harvard Scheduling underway for meeting with Canadian premiers in Boston Nodule discovered in former President Joe Biden s prostate during routine physical exam Trump contract war faces legal challenge as businesses states argue his tariffs exceeded his power Opposition to the Republican president has to expedition with a clearer picture of what we are literally for Buttigieg announced during a new interview with former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki on MSNBC That demands to be as clear a picture as our response to the authoritarian tendencies of this administration he announced We would not be in this situation if the administration the economic activity and the politics of our country were healthy They ve been unhealthy for a long time Buttigieg finished atop the Iowa Democratic Party s tallies in the glitch-plagued caucuses alongside Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders though The Associated Press did not call a winner given remaining concerns about whether the results as communicated by the party are fully accurate Buttigieg a former South Bend Indiana mayor who moved with his husband and twins to Michigan turned down runs for his adoptive state s open U S Senate and governor s races His aides insist his movement to Iowa is intended to meet people and hear their concerns not just as an exercise to set up a presidential bid Still a number of other anticipated contenders are traveling the country in the early days of the second Trump administration Sanders and New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez s contemporary joint rallies have drawn large crowds around the country including in Republican-led Western states Illinois Gov JB Pritzker in recent days called for mass mobilization of Democrats at a speech in New Hampshire and Govs Wes Moore of Maryland and Tim Walz of Minnesota plan stops in South Carolina at the end of May
