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Former U.S. Transportation Secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will headline an in-person town hall May 13 in Cedar Rapids focused on Republican President Donald Trump’s handling of veterans’ issues.
The event was first reported by CNN.
The town hall is being hosted by VoteVets Action Fund as part of a broader effort to drive national conversations about veterans issues and the effects of federal workforce and spending cuts overseen by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“The town hall will be an opportunity for veterans, military families and community members to come together to discuss the recent wave of policy decisions that have negatively impacted Americans, including threats to veterans’ health care, the nation’s economic stability and the democratic principles that veterans swore to defend,” according to a news advisory. “Attendees will hear directly from Buttigieg and fellow veterans on how the administration’s actions have hurt the veteran community and how veteran-led civic leadership can help push back.”
This event is scheduled to take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 13 in downtown Cedar Rapids. Location and arrival instructions will be sent the day before, according to a Facebook event page.
Individuals can sign up to attend the town hall at https://bit.ly/3GDSw3H.
The May town hall would be Buttigieg’s first public in-person event since leaving the Biden administration in January, CNN reported.
Buttigieg last visited Cedar Rapids in 2023
Buttigieg stopped in Cedar Rapids as transportation secretary in May of 2023, where he toured The Eastern Iowa Airport to highlight federal investments he said will make for a better passenger experience and support job growth. He also stopped in Dubuque to see how the city was using federal infrastructure funding to remove an at-grade crossing and build a railroad overpass in the city.
While no longer expected to lead off the presidential nominating process for Democrats, after the national party reshaped their presidential nominating calendar and stripped Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status, Buttigieg’s return to Iowa has raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about whether he’s eyeing another presidential run.
The veteran and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, narrowly won Iowa’s 2020 Democratic presidential caucuses after a long delay in releasing the results. The Associated Press declined to declare an Iowa caucus winner over concerns about whether the results reported by the party were accurate. The Feb. 3 caucuses were beset by technical glitches that led inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner.
The first openly gay major presidential candidate, Buttigieg ended his presidential campaign the following month after failing to build a broad coalition of voters and a poor performance in the South Carolina primary. He would go on to serve in Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration as transportation secretary.
He recently passed on running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, leading to speculation he’s looking to mount a possible second presidential bid. He also has been making the rounds on the podcast circuit and TV news interviews.
As transport secretary in the Biden administration, he became a regular on Fox News to speak on behalf of Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and to extend the party’s message and agenda to conservative, moderate and working-class voters.
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
