Pete Buttigieg could not believe what he had just watched. The former transportation secretary stood at the corner of the hotel bar in Denver, where CNN had just finished broadcasting the Trump administration’s news conference about the ground stop that stopped flights nationwide on Friday.
Mr. Buttigieg was among the thousands of Democrats who had gathered in Denver this week for a conference designed to chart the party’s future and celebrate their midterm wins. The ground stop stranded some of the party’s top rising stars and their staffs.
People accustomed to having inside information suddenly had very little.
At a table to Mr. Buttigieg’s left sat Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. They munched on Parmesan fries and checked their phones as they waited for news of their flights.
To his right, Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia scanned his Senate group chats to check for updates from secure channels and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.
But Mr. Buttigieg, glancing up at the television, struggled to comprehend the performance of his successor, Secretary Sean Duffy.
“You can just write down the comic book asterisk swearing characters,” Mr. Buttigieg said when a New York Times reporter asked for his impressions of the news conference. “I have questions.”
The downtown hotel bar resembled the famous bar scene in “Star Wars.” The stranded politicians bemoaned the lack of information from the federal government and their inability to get home.
One New England-based operative booked a rental car and planned to drive back to Boston. Others looked up how many hours it would take to get to the East Coast on Amtrak. (The answer: more than 40.) Aides to one prominent Democratic governor, who had flown to Denver on a private jet, fielded questions from others in the bar about whether they could hitch a ride home.
A few people working for Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois — who did not come to Denver — commandeered a long table where Anne Caprara, his chief of staff, worked two phones as she juggled rumors, emergencies back home and calls from the boss. She said Mr. Pritzker was furious about the lack of information coming from the Trump administration.
“Welcome to Denver’s hottest bar, the Mos Eisley Cantina of politics,” Ms. Caprara said, referring to the “Star Wars” bar. “With ‘Veep’ characters and a ‘Terminator 2’ vibe.”
Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting.
