During an hour-long speech in a packed Mother Lode Theatre, Pete Buttigieg made a rousing plea to ban corporate money from Montana politics while repeatedly sidestepping talk of a 2028 presidential run. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. transportation secretary drew cheers from the audience of 1,200 in Butte as he suggested that special interests and corporate spending in campaigns had drowned out the concerns of average voters.