Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Saturday responded to President Donald Trump's questions about his faith during a stop in New Hampshire.
Trump mocked Buttigieg on Friday during a rally with evangelical Christians at a Miami megachurch, saying the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was "trying to pretend he's very religious" but had become so "about two weeks ago."
"I'm not sure why the president's taken an interest in my faith journey, but certainly I would be happy to discuss it with him," Buttigieg, 37, said at a town hall meeting in Nashua.
"I just don't know where that's coming from, you know. Certainly it has been a complex journey for me, as it is for a lot of people, but I'm pretty sure I've been a believer longer than he's been a Republican."
Buttigieg, an Episcopalian and former Catholic, has spoken regularly at campaign events about his faith, and sometimes attends services while on the trail.
The Democratic presidential candidates are fanning out across early-voting states this weekend, notably Iowa and New Hampshire.
Five Democrats -- Joe Biden, Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar -- have qualified for the next debate, on Jan. 14 in Iowa.
Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Milwaukee on the same night as the debate, as well as a rally in Toledo on Jan. 9.
The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3.
