South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is far outspending his Democratic presidential challengers when it comes to the dollars spent on private jet travel, according to an analysis done by the Associated Press.
Buttigieg spent roughly $300,000 on charter flights this year, nearly $45,000 more than the second-highest spender, former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has spent approximately $256,000 thus far, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at $60,000.
Other top spenders include Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) who both spent just under $20,000 on flights for their campaigns.
“We are careful with how we spend our money and we fly commercial as often as possible,” Chris Meagher, the press secretary for Buttigieg’s campaign, told AP on Wednesday. “We only fly noncommercial when the schedule dictates.”
Meagher further contended that the distance between the campaign’s headquarters in South Bend, Indiana and any major airport make chartering private jets a necessity at times.
Only a month after announcing an exploratory committee for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Buttigieg expressed his support for the Green New Deal, which seeks to phase out air travel and move toward net-zero emissions over a 10-year period.
What’s more, the Green New Deal calls for “totally overhaul[ing] transportation by massively expanding electric vehicle manufacturing, build[ing] charging stations everywhere, build[ing] out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary,” according to the website of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who crafted the legislation.
Referring to climate change as a “national emergency,” Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the Green New Deal matched “a sense of urgency about that problem of climate change with a sense of opportunity around what the solutions might represent.”
Buttigieg’s campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire when asked whether his excessive use of private air travel violates the principles outlined in the Green New Deal and if he still supports virtually eliminating air travel.
The South Bend mayor has quickly become a top fundraiser in the 2020 election cycle. He generated $24.8 million from 294,000 individual donors during the second quarter, more than tripling the $7.1 million he raised during the first quarter of his campaign.
Despite the high air travel expenses, Buttigieg’s war chest still has significant reserves. The rate that he is burning through his cash is significantly lower than most of his Democratic challengers, reported The AP. He has only spent roughly 35% of what he raised during the second quarter.
“This fundraising report shows that Pete’s message is resonating with Americans and it’s proof that we are building an organization that can compete,” Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager wrote in an email to supporters in July.
However, the massive campaign haul has yet to translate into increased poll numbers. Buttigieg has not broken through the 10% threshold in any national poll since launching his bid for the presidency, and the average polling data puts him in fifth place with only 5% support.