Sanders goes after Buttigieg for billionaire donors amid fight for New Hampshire
The duo will likely face off during Friday night’s debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leveled a new attack against Pete Buttigieg on Friday, casting him as a favorite of billionaires and the wealthy on the heels of the hotly contested Iowa caucuses, in which the rival Democratic presidential candidates each claimed victory.
Speaking at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s primary next week, Sanders read out a list of headlines about how, among Democratic hopefuls, Buttigieg has raised the most money from billionaires, depicting him as a favorite of Wall Street.
“I like Pete Buttigieg,” Sanders said. “Nice guy. But we are in a moment where billionaires control not only our economy, but our political process.”
Iowa officials are still counting results from Monday night -- the Associated Press has declared the race still too close to call -- following technological difficulties with a new mobile phone app used to tally results. But with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Buttigieg, who had 26.2 percent of state delegates, and Sanders, who had 26.1, are locked in a neck-and-neck race.
SANDERS, BUTTIGIEG ARE WINNING THE 2020 CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING RACE
The duo will likely face-off during Friday night’s debate in Manchester, which Sanders referenced in his remarks before a group of local party leaders, businesspeople and students at the Politics & Eggs breakfast series. Although moderators will ask candidates questions about “this issue and that issue,” he said the most important question is: “Which side are you on?”
“Are you on the side of the working class of this country which has been battered for the last 45 years?” he said. “Are you willing to take on the greed and the corruption of the billionaire class and the one-percent? Or will you continue to stand with the billionaires?”
Sanders and Buttigieg will appear alongside former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang and hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer at the eighth debate.