Buttigieg: ‘It is time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say’

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) said during the 2020 Democratic debate on Tuesday that Democrats should “stop worrying about what the Republicans will say” and stand up for “the right policy.”

“It is time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say,” Buttigieg said. “It’s true that if we embrace a far-left agenda, they’re gonna say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re gonna do?”

“They’re gonna say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. So let’s just stand up for the right policy, go out there and defend it,” he continued.

Buttigieg: It’s time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say. If we embrace a far left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. pic.twitter.com/F76aDJN9qn

— Axios (@axios) July 31, 2019

“That’s a policy I’m putting forward.” Buttigieg added. “Not because I think it’s the right triangulation between Republicans here and Democrats there, [but] because I think it’s the right answer for people like my mother-in-law, who is here, whose life was saved by the [Affordable Care Act] ACA but who is still to vulnerable to the fact that the insurance industry does not care about her.” 

Buttigieg’s comments came in response to a question about his support for a “Medicare for All” health care plan after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) suggested he was not “willing to fight for it.” 

His remarks also came after fellow Democratic presidential contender Marianne Williamson expressed concerns about the single-payer health care system being backed by Sanders and Warren and how it would go over with Republican voters. 

“I have to say, I’m normally way over there with Bernie and Elizabeth [but] on this one, I hear the others and I have some concern about that as well,” she continued, referring to the health care plan.

“And I do have some concerns about what the Republicans would say and that’s not just a Republican talking point, I do have concern that it will be difficult,” she added. “I have concern that it will make it harder to win and I have concern that it will make it harder to govern.”