Buttigieg rips Biden attack ad: Small communities ‘frustrated’ with being made into a ‘punchline’

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said communities like the one he served are “frustrated” with Washington politicians making them into a “punchline,” after Buttigieg’s Democratic presidential primary opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, released an attack ad hitting Buttigieg’s experience. 

“So many communities like mine in South Bend. We know we might look small from the perspective of Washington, but to us what’s going on in Washington looks so small or small-minded,” Buttigieg said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” in response to the Biden ad. 

“And communities, whether they’re my size, or rural communities, or even neighborhood in our biggest cities that feel completely left behind, are frustrated with being being made into a punchline by Washington politicians.” 

“He’s right, I’m not, and neither is he,” Pete Buttigieg tells @jaketapper when asked to respond to Joe Biden’s comment that “this guy’s not Barack Obama” https://t.co/H9i18W6F1H #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/wEqM5SbQDi

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) February 9, 2020

The former mayor hit a similar note on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” telling host Margaret Brennan that the Biden ad is a” typical political attack that doesn’t tell most of the story.”

“It makes no mention of the work that we did for example in my administration appointing the first African-American top lawyer for the city, helping the first citywide executive African-American woman get elected in South Bend and really minimizing the experience of my city.”

“I know that a lot of mayors have been speaking up today about the idea that what happens in communities doesn’t count,” he added.

Biden’s ad released Saturday juxtaposed the former vice president’s experience working in the Obama administration with Buttigieg’s work as mayor of South Bend. 

Buttigieg’s campaign quickly fired back, noting that Buttigieg’s experience outside the “classic Washington-style of politics” is what voters want. 

Biden’s attack ad came as Buttigieg emerged victorious after the chaotic Monday night Iowa caucuses. Biden is in dead heat for first place with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), with both campaigns claiming victory. 

Biden came in fourth, behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in third. 

–Zack Budryk contributed to this report, which was updated at 10:53 a.m.