Buttigieg takes hits on issue of his experience

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Democratic presidential candidates Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from left, participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, in Atlanta.

ATLANTA (AP) – In Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, Pete Buttigieg became the focus of several of his Democratic opponents for what they characterized as a lack of experience.

After the South Bend, Indiana, mayor called for federal leadership on voting rights, Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar pointed out she supported such legislation in the Senate — and had won a statewide race.

Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard turned to foreign policy, saying Buttigieg had called for U.S. troops to be sent to Mexico. Buttigieg accused her of misrepresenting his past remarks that he supported a “security partnership” with Mexico but “would only order American troops into conflict if there were no other choice.”

Buttigieg noted Gabbard’s meeting with Syria’s president and said he wouldn’t have met with “a murderous dictator.”