Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Pete Buttigieg, coming off of their virtual tie in the Iowa caucus, got into a heated spat during Friday night’s debate over the former South Bend mayor’s wealthy donor base. Taking a shot at billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who was not on Friday’s stage, for spending hundreds of millions on his presidential campaign, Sanders then pivoted and took aim at Buttigieg.
“Unlike some of the campaigns up here, Pete, I don’t have 40 billionaires funding my campaign coming from the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street,” the Vermont senator bellowed. “What we do have is 6 million contributions from 1.5 million people averaging $18.50 a contribution.”
Buttigieg, meanwhile, retorted that he not only had sued the pharmaceutical companies in the past, but he was the only person on the stage who wasn’t a millionaire or billionaire. He went on to say that if Democrats wanted to beat President Trump they need to “bring everybody into the fold,” before adding: “I will not pursue politics by telling people they can’t be by our side if they’re not with us 100 percent of the time. This is a time for addition, for belonging, not excluding.”
