MANCHESTER, N.H. — Pete Buttigieg’s supporters on Tuesday fiercely objected to him being labeled “Mayor Cheat” after his victory speech following the botched Iowa caucus.
“That’s ridiculous,” fumed Peter Labombarde, 65, a diehard fan waiting to see Mr. Buttigieg at an event to jump-start his sprint to the first-in-the-nation primary here Feb. 11.
He knocked the Iowa caucus for being “a lousy way to pick a candidate.”
Technical glitches with an app used to transmit results from caucus locations delayed the results, which normally would have set the stage for the New Hampshire contest.
Mr. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, in a rousing speech late Monday night declared an underdog triumph in the Democratic presidential caucus despite a no results being reported from kickoff nominating contest.
“Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality,” he said at his victory party in Des Moines.
He also acknowledged the chaos at the caucuses.
“We don’t know all the results,” he said. “Iowa, you have shocked the nation.”
Still, he was assailed on social media and #MayorCheat became a trending hashtag on Twitter.
Hamza Vishan, a 19-year-old college student backing Mr. Buttigieg, said that if the former mayor didn’t win, he would suspect the Democratic Party rigged the Iowa caucuses.
“I would be mad,” he said. “I’d question the results very much.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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