Buckle up folks, because Pete Buttigieg has officially entered the presidential race.
We are currently in a time where several politicians are announcing their interest in running against Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Bid. So far, names like Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have already announced their intention to run for president, but now a secret hopeful has dropped his name into the hat.
Pete Buttigieg is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana and he’s now running for President. The openly gay mayor shared this news in a video announcement earlier this Wednesday morning.
Said Buttigieg, "The reality is there’s no going back, and there’s no such thing as ‘again’ in the real world. We can’t look for greatness in the past. Right now our country needs a fresh start.”
Many laypeople and everyday citizens may not be familiar with the name Pete Buttigieg, but he’s an up and coming politician whom many politicians are aware of.
Back in 2015, Buttigieg came out through an essay. In it, he shared that it was hard to accept his sexuality.
“Like most people, I would like to get married one day and eventually raise a family,” he wrote. “I hope that when my children are old enough to understand politics, they will be puzzled that someone like me revealing he is gay was ever considered to be newsworthy. By then, all the relevant laws and court decisions will be seen as steps along the path to equality.”
Thankfully, Buttigieg eventually became comfortable with his sexuality. He even later got engaged to and married comedian Chasten Glezman.
After that, Buttigieg jumped into the political world and started to make subtle ripples from within.
Buttigieg is praised for being a Democrat who can make bipartisan deals and appeal to conservative voters and lawmakers. Buttigieg’s connections with Republicans within his red state have helped him to understand how to bridge the gap between the two major political parties. As such, he’s been tagged by the Democratic Party as someone to watch.
Buttigieg even ran for chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2017, but later pulled out from the race despite being a strong contender.
Because of this, many politicians considered Buttigieg to be a future Presidential hopeful. CNN even placed him as a potential 2020 presidential race participant, and now it appears that they were right.
That said, the general populace still don’t know who Buttigieg is. Will the mayor from Indiana find a way to jump that hurdle against more well-known contenders like Warren and the rumored Joe Biden/Bernie Sanders duo?
If not, this is at least a great starting point to get his name out there for the entirety of America, and the world, to notice. And if 2020 doesn’t work out, maybe he’ll win another year.
