Actress and singer-songwriter Mandy Moore dipped her toes into politics, attending a campaign stop for one of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls. The candidate that inspired her to do so: Pete Buttigieg.
“Our reality is our country is in a crisis and we need a leader who understands how urgent these challenges are and has the experience working on the ground to take on those challenges first hand,” Moore said of Buttigieg.
In introducing the 2020 Democratic contender during Monday night’s town hall at Iowa State University, Moore praised Buttigieg as someone who is “truly an original.”
Additionally, the “This Is Us” star listed off attributes of Buttigieg, calling him a “brilliant, plain-spoken millennial who speaks a half a dozen languages.”
See her comments below:
Mandy Moore 2020 pic.twitter.com/mPlKfDwv8o
— Daniel Marans (@danielmarans) January 14, 2020
About to go onstage with this guy! @PeteButtigieg pic.twitter.com/aylr8w3Bjx
— Mandy Moore (@TheMandyMoore) January 14, 2020
Moore addressed her hesitation “to speak out politically in the past because of that fear […] I think people often believe that people in the public eye shouldn’t have a seat at the table in terms of offering what their opinion may be when it comes to politics.”
“We all need to use whatever platform we have to not only educate ourselves about the different candidates that are out there, but to get out and vote,” Moore told CNN.
Watch the video below:
.@TheMandyMoore: "We all need to use whatever platform we have to not only educate ourselves about the different candidates that are out there, but to get out and vote." pic.twitter.com/37HuQfKu5b
— The Hill (@thehill) January 14, 2020
Noting that she doesn’t usually get involved in politics, Moore explained in a video on Twitter on the way to Monday night’s event that she makes “the exception now because I find Pete and his candidacy and his campaign so inspiring.”
“I couldn’t say no,” she said, adding, “I couldn’t sit out.”
The actress reiterated in a post on Twitter following the event, “[Buttigieg] is just so inspiring, and he’s the person America needs as president right now.”
Moore has headed on the campaign trail with Buttigieg before, though this was her first introduction at a town hall for the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Buttigieg is in the fourth spot in national polls among the other 2020 Democrats, according to RealClearPolitics, and is close in polls among his contenders in Iowa. He is among the six candidates who qualified for Tuesday night’s primary debate in De Moines, Iowa.
