Can South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg break out of a crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls?
2020 Sunday Sit-down: 37-year-old Mayor Pete Buttigieg on his core message and the key issues.
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., officially entered the 2020 presidential race last month.
The 37-year-old Democrat is running in an ever-growing field of contenders for the nomination and a chance to unseat President Trump. But where exactly does the millennial mayor stand on key issues for 2020?
Buttigieg will join Fox News Channel for a town hall moderated by Chris Wallace in Claremont, N.H., on Sunday, May 19, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
Here’s a rundown of the young progressive’s stances on issues voters hold important, including climate change, health care, immigration, the Supreme Court, college costs and other crucial topics for 2020.
Climate change
Buttigieg supports the Green New Deal, a progressive measure to combat climate change. The plan proposes the radical transformation of the U.S. economy to cut emissions in addition to retrofitting and replacing every building in an effort to reach the goal.
"What the Green New Deal gets right, is it recognizes that there's also an economic opportunity. Retrofitting buildings means a huge amount of jobs for the building trades in this country," he said on “Fox News Sunday” in March.
If the U.S. can’t go carbon-free by 2030, Buttigieg said he supports going net carbon-free, which means taking out as much carbon as we put in.
He added that the timetable to act on climate is being set by "reality and science," not Congress.
Health care
The Democratic hopeful said he is “all for” implementing a single-payer system during a news conference earlier this year. He said he doesn’t want to cut out private insurance companies completely, proposing an all-payer rate-setting transition to keep health care costs down.
Buttigieg has set himself apart from fellow contenders who’ve said there won’t be a role for private insurance in the future, telling “Fox News Sunday” in March he’d “do it differently.”
"I think there will be a role for the private sector, but a very different one than what we have in the corporate system today," he said, adding that even in the U.K., which has nationalized health care, private insurers still play a role.
Immigration
Buttigieg has said that he supports a pathway to citizenship for immigrants.
The mayor told WSBT-TV in 2017 that he supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In January, he told CBS sending troops to the border was “a waste of time.”
The Supreme Court
Buttigieg supports expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court from nine to 15 — but it’s “not just about throwing more justices on the court,” he said on “Fox News Sunday” in March. He has proposed a structural reform that he believes will make the court less political.
He has suggested that 10 judges be appointed in the political fashion, while the remaining five can only be seated by the unanimous agreement of the other 10. He also mentioned other ideas, like rotating justices up from appellate courts or setting term limits.
“We can’t go on like this where every time there’s a vacancy there’s this apocalyptic ideological battle,” he said, adding that he supports having a national debate as to what’s appropriate “within the framework of the Constitution.”
Abortion
Buttigieg has said he is pro-choice.
During an interview on “Meet the Press," he said abortion is a moral question that won’t be settled by science. He said the woman who faces this decision should make the choice with her doctor, “not a male government official imposing his interpretation of his religion.”
College Costs
Buttigieg has said he is concerned about the rising student debt of college graduates in the country.
He told CNBC that the cost of college “is too expensive for too many people.” He said he supports an expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would forgive student loans in exchange for public service work.
Second Amendment
Buttigieg is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that advocates for gun control legislation.
He supports universal background checks and opposes allowing guns in schools, according to PBS News Hour.
Electoral college
Buttigieg said he “absolutely” supports abolishing the Electoral College.
Democrats have increasingly called for its removal after President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election by winning the Electoral College, while Clinton won the popular vote.
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