Pete Buttigieg debates 25 undecided Michigan voters on why Kamala Harris is better (and wins)

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention

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"Americans will have more rights and freedoms under a Harris/Walz Administration," the Secretary of Transportation said on a new Jubilee episode.

Pete Buttigieg has perfectly summed up why undecided voters should back Kamala Harris for president.

The Secretary of Transportation appeared on a recent episode of Jubilee, an online debate show, where he spent over an hour convincing 25 undecided voters in Michigan how "Americans will have more rights and freedoms under a Harris/Walz Administration," pointing to issues such as abortion access and marriage equality.

"There's more personal rights — a woman's right to choose, my right to have this ring on my finger — that I feel are much more secure if [Harris] is in charge than if [Trump] is in charge," Buttigieg said.

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When one woman asked for "evidence you have of Donald Trump being against gay marriage or wanting to roll back protections for gay folks to be married" Buttigieg expertly shot her down by noting "the evidence is that he ran for president with a platform that specifically said in black and white that that they were against marriage equality."

"They've kind of rubbed that out of the platform since the last time he ran for president, but the people he put on the court are contributing to a majority that already took away a woman's right to choose and doesn't seem very interested in protecting my right to marry, nor did he do anything to help get that legislation passed," he explained.

More 2024 Election Coverage from The Advocate:
- Why The Advocate endorses Kamala Harris for president
- How pro-LGBTQ+ is Kamala Harris?
- Our 2024 LGBTQ+ voter guide
- Kamala Harris's 'first priority' as president
- Where does Donald Trump stand on LGBTQ+ rights?
- Kamala Harris: Our One-on-One With the Vice President

The conservative Supreme Court majority created by Donald Trump overturned the national right to abortion in 2022. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion at the time that the court should also revisit and overrule decisions that prevent state restrictions on contraception, marriage equality, sodomy, and other private consensual sex acts, calling the rulings "demonstrably erroneous."

Still, the woman claimed that because "it's in our state constitution," it is somehow "manipulation of voters" for Harris to campaign on protecting reproductive freedom, despite it not being in national law, as Buttigieg fired back.

"I don't think that's manipulation," he said. "I live in Michigan, right? But if I take my kids with my husband to their first-ever Notre Dame game, and I cross the state line ... I don't want my marriage to evaporate the moment I cross the Michigan-Indiana state line."

"What [Harris] is talking about is that a national right should be national. It's true you have great leaders here in Michigan who have taken action at the state level, to protect reproductive rights," he continued. "But since when do civil rights disappear at state lines, and how is it pro freedom to take away a national protection and say 'Well, if some state wants to take away this freedom, have at it'?"