Amy Klobuchar shuns Pete Buttigieg’s handshake after tense Las Vegas debate

By: Vincent B.

Amy Klobuchar dished sarcastic barbs at Pete Buttigieg before leaving her debate podium Wednesday night without shaking his hand.

“I wish everyone were as perfect as you, Pete,” she mocked the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, at one point in Las Vegas.

Buttigieg had just wrapped up delivering a message in Spanish, after criticizing the Minnesota US senator for her 2007 vote in favor of making English the national language in America.

He also chided her for supporting the nomination of Kevin McAleenan for commissioner of the US Customs and Border Protection, whom Democrats criticized for splitting children from their parents at the border.

“If you’re going to run based on your record in Washington, you’re going to have to own those votes,” Buttigieg said.

Klobuchar responded with snark.

“Let me tell you what it’s like to be in the arena,” she said, before going on to assert that McAleenan was supported by “about half the Democrats.”

“I did not one bit agree with his draconian policies to sperate kids from their parents,” Klobuchar went on. “And in my first 100 days, I would immediately change that.”

The exchange was the second of two rounds of heated back-and-forths between the two at Wednesday’s debate.

Earlier on, Buttigieg called out Klobuchar for forgetting the Mexican president’s name in a recent interview, which Klobuchar chalked up to “momentary forgetfulness.”

“Are you trying to say I’m dumb? Are you mocking me here, Pete?” Klobuchar said.

After the debate wrapped and candidates exchanged handshakes, Buttigieg could be seen turning toward Klobuchar as she briskly walked past without so much as a glance.