CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg returned to Iowa on Tuesday with some subtle and not-so-subtle messages about what’s changed since he ran in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential caucuses.
His speech included mentions of his adopted twins, a boy and a girl, and how he explained to his daughter the different nicknames for the American flag. He talked of flying into the Cedar Rapids airport after visiting while transportation secretary to oversee the facility’s expansion. And having left the state in 2020 as a youthful, baby-faced candidate not quite 40 years old, Buttigieg on Tuesday was sporting a burgeoning beard.
Above all, his speech sounded like he was preparing for a second White House bid. Buttigieg gave a strident critique of President Donald Trump’s administration while demanding Democrats make their agenda clear and reach out to people who disagree with them.
“We are being tested on nothing less than whether the United States of America is in fact the freedom-loving people that we believe and know ourselves to be,” Buttigieg told an audience of more than 1,000 in Cedar Rapids, his first public political appearance since leaving the Biden administration in January.
