NASHUA – Tuesday – exactly one week before the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary – Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess endorsed Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

“There’s a lot of support around Nashua and I’m sure he’s going to do very well here,” Donchess said.

Buttigieg joined Donchess for an early morning cup of coffee at Riverwalk Cafe on Tuesday, fresh after arriving in New Hampshire after exiting the chaos that ensued during the Iowa caucuses.

While the two politicians exchanged pleasantries over coffee, those results still had not been revealed. Despite that, Donchess believes Buttigieg did very well in the Midwest.

Donchess expects poll workers in Nashua to have the primary results by 9:30 p.m. next Tuesday. The polls in Nashua will close at 8 p.m.

Just days before area voters head out to the polls to cast their ballots, Donchess said Buttigieg already has a lot of support in New Hampshire, and believes that will increase during the next week.

Donchess also said Buttigieg is best suited to represent the Nashua community and win the election. Donchess is in his fourth term serving as mayor, and believes Buttigieg knows how to bring people together to work on very serious problems facing the nation, such as climate change and health care.

“As a mayor, you need to get results – you need to get things done. You need to solve problems, and that’s why I’m supporting Pete,” Donchess said. “As a man of faith, as someone who served the country, as someone who served his city, he can beat (President) Donald Trump,” Donchess said.

“I am humbled to receive the support of my fellow Mayor Jim Donchess,” Buttigieg said via news release. “Mayor Donchess is a living example of why Washington should look more like our best run cities and towns — not the other way around. Under his leadership, Nashua has made great strides on early childhood education, affordable housing, and a revitalized downtown. I’m proud to stand with him in showing the American people that we can do things that have never been done before.”

Donchess joins U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., among other local and state politicians, who are endorsing the former Midwest mayor.

Later Tuesday, with 62% of results reporting from the complicated Iowa caucuses, Buttigieg led with the most “state delegate equivalents” at 363, with Vermont’s Bernie Sanders in second place at 338.

However, in terms of total votes, results showed Sanders in the lead at 55,513, while Buttigieg was second at 50,898.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.

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