CT pols celebrate Buttigieg’s night in New Hampshire

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks at his campaign base for the New Hampshire Presidential Primary at Nashua Community College in Nashua, N.H. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, narrowly beat former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, followed by U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. less Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks at his campaign base for the New Hampshire Presidential Primary at Nashua Community College in Nashua, N.H. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, ... more Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close CT pols celebrate Buttigieg’s night in New Hampshire 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

NASHUA, N.H. — Pete Buttigieg’s success in the New Hampshire primary came as no surprise to Connecticut state Sen. Bob Duff, who has known Buttigieg close to a decade, and was one of the first elected officials in the country to endorse the little-known mayor from Indiana.

“He has momentum on his side,” Duff, of Norwalk, the Senate majority leader, said following Buttigieg’s speech to a crowd of supporters at Nashua Community College.

Duff sat among a contingent of prominent Connecticut supporters who made the trek to the Granite State for primary night — among them Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Sen. Will Haskell of Westport and Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey of Fairfield.

“Pete can be the next President of the United States,” Duff said, a “Pete 2020” sign in one hand and a small American flag in the other.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary for the second time, but it was the campaigns of Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar that garnered the most attention.

Buttigieg came within 1.5 percentage points, or about 3,500 votes, of besting Sanders in New Hampshire fresh off a close win in the Iowa caucuses. That gives Buttigieg enough momentum to cement his place among the top contenders and all but guarantees he’ll be in the race well into the spring, including the Connecticut primary in late April.

“A campaign that some said shouldn't be here at all has shown that we are here to stay,” Buttigieg told supporters.

His remarks had the energy of a victory speech, as Sanders and Buttigieg will earn the same number of delegates from New Hampshire.

“A lot has changed since Iowa,” Duff said. “People knew who he was before that, but Iowa really changed the tone and there’s a lot of momentum for him in Connecticut right now.”

The normally buttoned-down Duff shot a selfie with Buttigieg’s mother waving a few feet behind him as the crowd waited for the candidate to emerge Tuesday night. “Such a lovely person. So exciting tonight,” Duff Tweeted with the photo.

Duff said his colleagues in the state legislature have started asking more about about the candidate he endorsed in September. As he was leaving the Capitol Tuesday, he invited Haskell, who has not endorsed anyone for president, to tag along.

Haskell ended up in the front row of the crowd and, at 23, is on the tail end of the same generation as Buttigieg, the first millennial candidate for president.

“There’s something exciting happening on the Pete campaign,” Haskell said. “There’s a lot of young people who grew up under Obama who recognized he was the smartest person in the room, but also the kindest. And that’s important to us. Pete has that quality.”

McCarthy Vahey, who endorsed Buttigieg alongside Duff in September, said the anxious and excited energy in the room was contagious. Like Duff, she met Buttigieg through a group called The New Deal Leaders and saw his potential early on.

“As soon as I met him, he stood out,” she said. “I told him we’d all be working for him one day and here we are.”

The true tests will come in primaries in Nevada and South Carolina next week where voting bases are notably more diverse than those in Iowa and New Hampshire. Buttigieg generally fared better in the more rural, wealthy townships in New Hampshire, but with no clear frontrunner, and at least five candidates still contending for true pull-ahead moment, no one can predict the outcome.

“As he says, this campaign is a campaign of addition and he will work to welcome allies along the way,” McCarthy Vahey said. “I think the more people get to know him, the more he will be able to build on the strong coalition he already has.”

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt