Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during his keynote address at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s annual Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner on Oct. 3 that Democrats “need to be prepared to reform the system” if the party is successful in the midterms.
The event, one of NHDP’s largest annual fundraisers, included speeches from state politicians and candidates, including party chairman Raymond Buckley; Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H.; Senator Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill ’00; Senate contender and current Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H.; and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Over 400 people attended the ticketed event in Concord at the Grappone Conference Center, according to NHDP senior communications advisor Marissa Herbert.
Buttigieg, who delivered the keynote address, said the Democratic Party has “a wind at our back” in the upcoming midterms but cannot “fall into the trap of thinking” success in November will mean returning to “politics as usual.”
“If politics as usual was working, we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “Things have to change. We’ve got to deliver reform because we’ve got to do something about a political system that keeps kicking the legs out from under the kitchen table.”
Buttigieg said during the speech there is “a connection” between “kitchen table issues and the brokenness of our system.” He added that the party should ban gerrymandering and reform the Electoral College and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We have to build something that is not just better than what we have now, but better than what we had before,” he explained.
Buttigieg blamed Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte for New Hampshire’s affordability crisis, highlighting issues such as diesel and shipping costs and health insurance.
“In Kelly Ayotte’s New Hampshire, it’s getting harder and harder to afford the very basics,” he said. “If you’re raising two young children here, you could pay up to $30,000 a year for childcare, which is about what college costs.”
Ayotte’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite “bitter” political polarization, Buttigieg said most people “are actually on the same page about what that better America could look like.”
“As 50-50 as our presidential elections have been, as 50-50 as a state like New Hampshire is electorally, you got to remember that it is not a 50-50 issue to say that one job ought to be enough and that ought to provide enough pay and benefits to live on well,” Buttigieg said.
In a press conference after the event, Buttigieg said that he thinks that there are opportunities for Democrats across the country to flip Republican-held districts in the upcoming midterm elections.
“We’re seeing the map expand in so many ways,” he said. “We’ve got to take care of the basics and try to compete in places where we didn’t used to have that capability.”
Buttigieg, who ran for president in 2020 and served as transportation secretary in the Biden administration, declined to say whether he plans to run in 2028.
“I’m totally focused on 2026,” he said. “There will be plenty of time afterwards for what’s afterwards.”
Dartmouth Democrats member Leo Stritikus ’27, who attended the event on behalf of the organization and worked for Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign as a volunteer coordinator in high school, said in an interview after the event that he thought Buttigieg’s keynote address was “incredible.”
“To see him in person for the first time was really awesome,” Stritikus said. “I think that he did a really good job capturing the energy that the Democratic Party has coming into this election.”
Stritikus added that he appreciated Buttigieg’s emphasis “what happens when we beat” President Donald Trump.
“It’s really important the Democratic Party doesn’t just run against something, that it runs for something,” Stritikus said.
Dartmouth Democrats member and attendee Peter Drew ’29 similarly said Buttigieg’s focus on “hope” resonated with him.
“It’s fun to hear candidates talk about the future they want to create,” Drew said.
Liot Hill, who highlighted “affordability, accountability and good government” in her speech at the event, told The Dartmouth in an interview after that Democrats “on the campaign trail” are seeing more people “frustrated” by “rising prices from groceries to gas, heating oil, electricity, property taxes.”
“People want something different,” Liot Hill said. “Life is not working for working people right now, and so I think we’re seeing this combination of Democrats in New Hampshire are getting more and more energized.”
The “path” to Democrats controlling the U.S. Senate “goes right through New Hampshire,” Liot Hill added. “That’s why we have national Democrats like Mayor Pete coming to New Hampshire and helping get New Hampshire Democrats energized, because the stakes are really high.”
Eliza Dorton '29 is a reporter from Washington, D.C. and is studying English and public policy. Outside the classroom, she enjoys reading and going on walks.
