MIAMI (WSVN) - A Democratic presidential candidate spoke to supporters in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood ahead of a private fundraiser.
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, introduced himself to a large crowd at the Wynwood Walls, Monday afternoon.
Buttigieg is one of several Democratic candidates vying for his party’s nomination.
“With two dozen candidates, you’re not running against any one competitor, you’re kind of running against the whole field,” Buttigieg said. “What we’re seeing is that our support continues to grow, continues to gather and continues to diversify.”
This is the candidate’s first campaign stop in South Florida, and he wasted no time focusing on issues close to South Florida, such as health care costs and U.S.-Cuban relations, among other issues.
Buttigieg said to supporters, “We ought to make it easier to vote. We ought to make it easier to register to vote, and we might even go so far in this democratic republic of ours as to choose our president by just counting up all the votes and giving it to the person who got the most — important for the American people. When Alabama and Missouri and Georgia and other states are setting up legal penalties, so that if a woman is raped and goes to get abortion care, the doctor who treats her could spend more time in prison than her rapist. That is a step back for freedom in this country, and we got to put that right to defend freedom in its truest sense.”
The 37-year-old launched his presidential campaign in May as the first openly gay candidate for the Democratic party.
As he spoke in Wynwood, Buttigieg hopes he reached out to a broad audience, and his supporters, like Michael Pincus and Chris Taylor, said they were not disappointed.
“As a gay teenager, it was really inspiring to be able to see someone like me running, and the representation is amazing,” Pincus said.
“I do like where he stands on issues, of course, but I think it’s time to have someone that has the maturity that he has,” Taylor said.
Buttigieg hosted a private fundraiser in South Florida, Monday night.
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