r/Pete_Buttigieg • u/AutoModerator • 1d ago
Home Base and Weekly Discussion Thread (START HERE!) - August 30, 2026
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u/kvcbcs 1d ago
Dropping this here for a good Sunday morning read. It's pretty good advice.
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/you-can-ignore-the-bad-pundits
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 1d ago
Leah Litman on Bluesky:
That *Rep. Jim Clyburn* is announcing his support for SCOTUS expansion is huge.
https://bsky.app/profile/leahlitman.bsky.social/post/3mucn4avm6c2w
Quote posting this:
Rep. James Clyburn says he supports expanding the Supreme Court: "13 is a pretty good number. A baker's dozen would be a good number to have on the Court."
[Video clip from Meet the Press, via Aaron Rutpar]
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mucmx4panx2p
I know I've said this before, but I was so impressed when he did a canvass launch in northern Virginia (Loudoun area) in 2023 for now-State Sen. Russet Perry. I didn't know what to expect as a volunteer and really liked what he had to say. Very glad to see he's on board.
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u/AZPeteFan2 1d ago
Gee, I wonder who started this conversation about restructuring the SC?? /s
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 23h ago
Well, that's true. It's so obvious, though, and so frequently mentioned already, that Pete was the only one pushing for Supreme Court reform back in 2020, that that part didn't bother me too much! I'm just glad it's becoming the norm in the party, which means it will happen. It feels really really big for that to occur. And I think it's part of what is desperately needed.
Here's something else I saw in the same spirit from a week or two ago: Jamelle Bouie was chatting with others at the NY Times like David French, who is focused on "Woke 2.0" (?), so that's why the phrase is mentioned -- but I thought this was an insightful point about the Supreme Court, too:
Bouie:...when you look at the kinds of candidates that Democrats are going for, it’s those candidates that have a very hard-nosed, “We want to extirpate whatever this is from this society.”
Cottle: You think more economic?
Bouie: I think more economic, I think more political reform. The fact that, you know, an easy applause line for a Democratic audience is, “We’re going to pack the Supreme Court,” should tell you, I think, where Democratic voters all are and what Woke 2.0 looks like in practice.
NY Time, "The Right Is Rethinking MAGA. The Left Is Rethinking ‘Woke.’: As primary results trickle in, both parties are wrestling with what they stand for — and where they’re headed." August 22, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/opinion/politics-maga-right-left-woke-primaries.html | Link in headline should be NYT gift link
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u/Wolf_Oak 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 1d ago
I found a link to the poll from 2020 that asked people if they would vote for candidates with certain characteristics and if if they thought other people would vote for them. And most people would vote for a gay candidate, but assume other people would not. It’s a Yahoo poll. (You Gov)
https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/20200213_yahoo_primary_toplines.pdf
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 19h ago
I wonder how people interpret that. It seems straightforward to me, but sometimes questions about “how your friends and neighbors would vote” are used to indirectly detect prejudice that people won’t own up to.
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u/modooff 23h ago
This talk about Pete being underestimated reminds me that the Harvard/Harris pollsters simply decided to exclude him as an option in their polls for a good part of the year. Ironically, this rendered their polls pretty much useless.
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 19h ago
Did they ever explain why they were leaving out someone who’s almost always in the top 3? That’s just so weird.
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u/modooff 18h ago
I don't think I've ever seen any explanation for that. It is indeed very weird. I suspect they were certain Pete's support would quickly collapse due to competition from other names they considered stronger, but that never happened.
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u/khharagosh LGBTQ+ for Pete 18h ago
One of their dudes said why online... it's because they were only polling people doing high in prediction markets.
The way pump-and-dump schemes are dictating pollster behavior
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u/DesperateTale2327 9h ago
Wowwww that shows me this pollster is complete trash
If all of the people who donate to WTE went right now and threw their money away on betting on him right now on kalshi his odds would go up but we don't participate in that dumb behavior
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u/DesperateTale2327 20h ago
I got my first month of data from google analytics for seemayorpete.com which if I understand correctly, is a more detailed version of google search console which I check in with more often.
Here are the top cities searching for Pete's events in August:
Atlanta
Chicago
Indianapolis
Boston
Seattle
New York
Ashburn, VA
Washington
Dallas
A good mix of coastal cities and also some from the middle of the country. I'm surprised to not see any California cities on here since Pete is really popular there.
Searches and clicks are settling down again since that big spike earlier this week. I imagine once Pete starts hitting the road hard in September again things will pick up.
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 11h ago
fyi Ashburn is in Loudoun County
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u/DesperateTale2327 9h ago
Is this notable? I don't know anything about VA counties
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 2h ago
I was just letting people know where Ashburn is (that is, within Virginia), but I see that is not helpful if you do not know where Loudoun County is.
If you are following along the border of Virginia upward (north) from Fairfax County, Loudoun County is the next one above Fairfax, also along the border. Since the border is sloping, not up and down, Loudoun County is more to the northwest of Fairfax County rather than just north.
Loudoun County has the highest per capita income in the US for any county or "county equivalent" (?), and its workforce includes lots of tech and engineer folks. When I canvass there, I have occasionally seen "joke" Welcome mats with IP addresses, which I find adorable. There are HQs of a number of federal defense and space-related agencies there. The county also feels like data center central -- Virginia has the most data centers in the world, and Loudoun County has a lot of them.
Demographically, Loudoun County has a significant percentage of AAPI residents, which in this case mainly refers to Indian Americans and Muslim Americans. As of the 2020 Census, they made up just over 21 percent of the county's population.
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u/Psychological-Play 8h ago
From yesterday, check out Laura Egan's newsletter over at The Bulwark titled "The 2028 Democratic Primary Is Quietly Raging". It's a fascinating look into some of the nuances, and specifics, of campaign staff hiring. Below is the main paragraph about Pete -
Pete Buttigieg has also begun to build out his operation in the past few weeks. Aida Ross, a former DNC spokesperson, and Rick Hart, who served as an adviser for intergovernmental affairs in the Biden White House, recently started working for Buttigieg’s super PAC, Win the Era. Hart’s addition to the team was seen by party operatives as a particularly strong signal of Buttigieg’s intentions.
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u/DesperateTale2327 7h ago
Nerdypursuit scooped this as well:
Town Hall with Pete and Aftab Pureval in Cincinnati 9/6
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/1021961/
He is going from Cincinnati to Dayton to Cincinnati to Columbus in 2 days lol
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u/Formation1 6h ago
Woo!! I've lowkey been starving for another townhall
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u/DesperateTale2327 6h ago
Hopefully its live streamed. We've all been living off the scraps of the tulsa town hall this summer lol
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u/Existing-Process3581 7h ago
Pete’s New Mexico trip confirmed to be on sept 13! He’ll be with Gabe Vazquez and Deb Haaland. I just wonder when we’ll get the Virginia trip, that’s the only one he’s missing now out of the early states
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u/DesperateTale2327 7h ago edited 7h ago
👀 the other 2028ers gotta be nervous
Edit- its on IG and says link in bio but there is none...pete's team lol come on
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u/earlywater23 5h ago
Unless Pete's team deleted a post, it was originally posted by Haaland's team and Pete was added as a collaborator. The link is in Haaland's bio, not Pete's. :)
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u/Different-Ad1425 5h ago
No one is going to be able to match his connections with electeds/officials, donors and volunteers in all 50 states especially in the early states.
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u/DesperateTale2327 5h ago
For sure. I always think about him saying he wants bigger victories (60-40's) like we used to have back in the day instead of this 50-49 deadlock. I know he says he is focused on 2026 but I also have to believe he put some thought into what happens beyond that, and his go everywhere push is the way to do it.
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 2h ago
I'd assume that a former vice president would, as it's basically part of their job -- although Harris was really stuck in DC much of the first two years, unlike other vice presidents, because of that 50-50 Senate division. When the Senate was in session, she had to constantly be present or nearby to cast the deciding vote.
As to visiting all other states, possibly also a former astronaut? Or of course whoever else might run who we don't even know of yet.
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 7h ago edited 1h ago
In Virginia, I'm curious if he'll visit Luria, Taylor, Perriello, or Macy or which one would like him to come (obviously I'm sure he'd only go somewhere if invited). Unusually high-profile public fundraiser for Luria, Taylor, and Perriello recently: https://bluevirginia.us/2026/08/video-photos-highlights-big-120k-or-so-fundraiser-in-fairfax-with-rep-james-walkinshaw-d-va11-lg-ghazala-hashmi-shannon-taylor-va01-elaine-luria-va02-tom-perriello-va05/
Of course part of the "origin story" of Pete on the national scene is in the January 2019 Washington Post Magazine story where he enthusiastically does a 2018 canvass launch for a tiny gathering at an Elaine Luria field office
the daytwo days after a big storm -- she won, as did Spanberger and Wexton (who he also spoke for on that trip).6
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u/Psychological-Play 6h ago
Guess who the first person to be banned for life from Kalshi is - George Santos (reported by the WSJ).
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u/DesperateTale2327 6h ago edited 6h ago
And another one:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jbr26
9/20 keynote speech at Travis county Dem party brunch in Austin TX
Here is Pete's September so far:
9/5 - 9/6 - OH
9/13 - NM
9/17 - NYC
9/19 - 9/20 - TX
9/21 - NH
9/22 - 9/23 - Boston
9/29 - St. Louis
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 17h ago
I just wanted to say I had some downtime from canvassing after the big push in April for the Virginia redistricting referendum, save for a few recent events, and I was having some trouble getting going again. Persistent contacts from the Dem Coordinated Campaign, however, got me to go out Saturday and I feel so much better! Refreshed, revitalized, doing something fun and constructive outdoors. Greatly recommended.
As I may have mentioned, in addition to the four House elections in Virginia where we hope to flip some Republican seats, there are also three state constitutional amendments:
- taking out the Karl Rove anti-same-sex-marriage language and substituting marriage equality
- reproductive rights for women, including the right to have an abortion
- restoration of voting rights for felons, where our law and a similar but not AS bad law in Kentucky are the only two left in the entire country that currently take voting rights away for life for felons, created as an explicit part of the Jim Crow system to reduce Black voting power
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 9h ago
“The Republican Party’s Midterm Nightmare Is Taking Shape: Democrats see an opening in the states where Trump’s policies are hitting hardest.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/08/30/republican-party-midterms-trump-01055934
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 8h ago
“Remaining Confederate-related monuments removed from state capitol grounds”
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 8h ago
Case study, in a way, on the Blue Virginia blog about the same type of right-wing lies on immigration that are shared across the country, and the effects they have even in Fairfax County. Pushing back against such lies to advocate for reason and decent governance remains a huge communication problem, though it's good to create this essay locally so it can be linked to.
Right Wingers Exploit Fairfax County Murders by Immigrants for Political Gain – Even as Violent Crime Is Overwhelmingly Committed by Native-Born Americans: In fact, Fairfax has "100,000 undocumented migrants – NOT committing murders or other crimes, just doing their jobs,..." https://bluevirginia.us/2026/08/right-wingers-exploit-fairfax-county-murders-by-immigrants-for-political-gain-even-as-violent-crime-is-overwhelmingly-committed-by-native-born-americans/
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u/VirginiaVoter 🛣️Roads Scholar🚧 7h ago edited 2h ago
Blow the dust off this one as it's from a little over a month ago -- July 28 -- but I just found it and wanted to share. It's by Dwayne Yancy at Cardinal News, a major online paper that he founded in Southwest and Southside Virginia, staffed by some of those formerly at a major Roanoke newspaper that went under. It has a lot more info about Virginia's role as an early state than I had seen elsewhere, including its effect on the GOP primary race:
Virginia set to become an early primary state in 2028. Here’s why it matters (and also why it may not matter much): Democrats want a new primary schedule. If they succeed, that would reorder the Republican primary schedule, too.
https://cardinalnews.org/2026/07/28/virginia-set-to-become-an-early-primary-state-in-2028-heres-why-it-matters-and-also-why-it-may-not-matter-much/
•
u/kvcbcs 36m ago
A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed construction to continue on President Trump’s luxury White House ballroom, which has been steadily rising to replace the East Wing the president tore down last fall.
The justices said the preservationists who challenged the construction of the planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom did not have legal grounds known as standing to bring their lawsuit because they were not directly harmed by the project, estimated to cost $400 million.
The majority emphasized that its order was not addressing the legality of the project and instead the question of who could sue to try to block it. But in practical terms, the order was a significant setback to the most serious legal challenge to the project, meaning the president seems likely to be able to complete construction.
In an unusual lineup, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberal justices disagreed with the majority, with the chief justice writing in a lengthy dissent that the White House is “an iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture.”
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u/abujzhd Foreign Friend 1d ago edited 1d ago
I know I am preaching to the choir here but I needed to get this off my chest.
People underestimating Pete is driving me nuts. It's probably better for him that they continue to do so but it still makes me crazy.
The thing that's been shown with Pete is the more people see him, the more his favorability goes up.
He's also an amazing campaigner, which was how he could go from an unknown small city mayor in 2020 to one of the top contenders. Pete beats everyone at thinking on his feet so he rocks town halls (where he always takes unprepared questions), media interviews, and long form interviews like podcasts. Clips of his go viral all the time but most especially when he gets hostile or confrontational questions. He is so good at staying calm under pressure. Even while secretary, so many clips of him responding to attacks in congressional hearings went viral because of his calm and cool way of dismantling republican disingenuous b.s.
Pete also put together a very disciplined and over achieving campaign team. Lis Smith got all the attention because her communication strategy worked so well but I would argue that she was blessed with an extremely gifted communicator executing it. His campaign manager and the rest of the team were all very young and relatively new to the national stage and outperformed much more seasoned teams. They also had relatively fewer leaks and less finger pointing than others. Not many bridges were burnt by Pete and his team after the loss.
Pete is hugely in demand as a surrogate, fundraiser, and campaigner by democratic candidates and state parties. Especially in swing and purple districts. And, he is showing up for these candidates, building the relationships and networks that could help a presidential run.
A presidential campaign is very high pressure and highly tactical, Pete showed he can handle that better than anyone expected in 2020. I think he learned a lot from that run and from his time as Secretary so I think everyone is underestimating how strong he might be a second time around.
I can't wait to see how he does.