Buttigieg picks up endorsements from 3 Obama administration officials

Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg picked up endorsements from three former Obama administration officials on Thursday, including from the former president’s body man, Reggie Love. 

Love, who served as former President Obama’s special assistant and aide from 2007 to 2011, cited generational change as his reason for supporting the South Bend, Ind. mayor’s 2020 bid. 

“A lot of what is said about Pete echoes what critics said about presidential candidate Barack Obama – too young, too different, maybe another time – but I believe there is never a better time to fight for change than right now,” Love said in a statement. 

Buttigieg also scored endorsements from the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, and the former communications director for the White House Office of Health Reform, Linda Douglass. 

The endorsements come as Buttigieg has risen in a number of state and national polls, posing a challenge to former Vice President Joe Biden as the race’s leading centrist candidate. 

The former vice president notably attacked Buttigieg earlier this week, accusing him of stealing his health care proposal, which builds upon ObamaCare.  

Biden has repeatedly touted his role in the Obama administration, as well as his ties to the former president, on the campaign trail. 

While Obama has not made an endorsement in the race, Biden told Politico earlier this week that he did not need an endorsement from the former president. 

“No, because everyone knows I’m close with him,” he said. “I don’t need an Obama endorsement.”