The Latest: Buttigieg pitches military service to veterans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on the 2020 presidential election (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is pitching his military service to voters in New Hampshire, a state where nearly 10% of residents are veterans.

Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, said at a packed American Legion hall in Merrimack on Thursday that the country could learn from military members who work together regardless of different backgrounds, experiences and political parties.

He’s also promising to put more resources into veterans’ mental and physical health. He says too many veterans can’t access the care they need.

New Hampshire doesn’t have a full-service veterans hospital.

He’s also proposing allowing military spouses who move around a lot to delay repayment of their student loans. And he proposed changing how the military deals with cases of sexual assault.

It was Buttigieg’s only public event in New Hampshire on Thursday ahead of the state’s Feb. 11 primary.

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3:40 p.m.

Democrat Andrew Yang is restructuring his presidential campaign by laying off dozens of staffers following a distant sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

Campaign manager Zach Graumann said Thursday that the campaign is “restructuring to compete as the New Hampshire primary approaches.”

Graumann went on to call the plans “a natural evolution of the campaign post-Iowa, same as other campaigns have undertaken.”

The statement followed a report by Politico that Yang’s campaign had fired dozens of staffers across the operation. Yang’s campaign told The Associated Press that most of those let go had been Iowa staff.

Before Monday’s caucuses in Iowa, Yang had taken part in a 17-day bus tour throughout the state.

The tech entrepreneur has a series of town halls in New Hampshire this week ahead of next week’s primary.

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Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, “Ground Game.”