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Out Mayor Pete Buttigieg Joins 2020 Presidential Race

If he nabbed the nomination he would be the second openly gay nominee for president.

Pete Buttigieg, the out mayor of South Bend, Indiana, made headlines back in December when he announced he would not be seeking a third term as mayor, fueling rumors that he was considering a 2020 presidential run.

This morning (January 23), Buttigieg announced he will be launching an exploratory committee, officially confirming the start of his campaign.

“I think a lot about intergenerational justice. Short-term versus long-term helps to explain a lot of the policy disagreements that happen between the parties, and I would argue that in most ways we are the party with more long-term thinking,” Buttigieg said during his first interview after officially announcing his run.

If he were to win the Democratic nomination, he would be the first openly gay Democrat to run for president, and one of the youngest, having just turned 37 this past weekend.

“As we look to the new generation of leaders, he’s a natural person to be at the top of that list. The things he’s done with his life, the things he’s done in South Bend, his ability to reach people across the political divide. All those things are enormous assets,” Obama political advisor David Axelrod told the South Bend Tribune.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for GLSEN

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 20: Chasten Glezman (L), and Mayor Peter Buttigieg at the 2017 GLSEN Respect Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on October 20, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for GLSEN)

Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and he has been South Bend’s mayor since 2012. He married his partner, Chasten Glezman, in June of 2018, and celebrated with a trip to their local Pride event.

Buttigieg’s openness about his sexuality is no small feat, especially in Indiana, where his Democratic Party affiliations stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of red. Though his husband had been out for more than a decade before the two met, Buttigieg only came out in May 2015, penning a stirring essay for the South Bend Tribune.

Regardless, he’s a well-loved figure in South Bend, known to most in the city of some 100,000 people as simply “Mayor Pete.”

"President Pete" has a nice ring to it, no?

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