In a 2020 Democratic field already crowded with candidates, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg seemed like the longest of presidential long shots. But after turning in an incredibly effective appearance at a CNN town hall event Sunday, Buttigieg’s star seems to be rising. Here’s what you need to know about the young presidential candidate.

Who is Mayor Pete Buttigieg?

At just 37 years old, Buttigieg (pronounced "boot-edge-edge," though he also goes by "Mayor Pete") has already racked up an impressive resume. The South Bend native graduated from Harvard Phi Beta Kappa, earned a Rhodes Scholarship, and served in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve Intelligence officer. At 29, he became the youngest mayor of an American city of 100,000 or more people upon his 2012 election.

As mayor, he's helped to revitalize his Rust Belt city, spurring development in its downtown, preparing or demolishing vacant houses, and overseeing a steady rise in the population after years of decline.

Buttigieg came out as gay three years ago, and has since wedded his husband, educator and comic Chasten Buttigieg. If he wins the Democratic nomination Buttigieg would become the first openly gay major party presidential nominee, and could potentially become the nation’s first openly gay president.

Buttigieg on a New Hampshire campaign stop in February. Boston Globe Getty Images

Why is a long-shot presidential candidate going viral?

Though Buttigieg announced his candidacy in late January, the mayor’s first big moment in the national spotlight as a presidential hopeful came Sunday, when he participated in a CNN town hall at Austin’s SXSW festival.

Buttigieg was vocal in his criticism of Vice President Mike Pence. "Please don't judge my state by our former governor,” he said at the event. When host Jake Tapper asked if Pence would be a better or worse president than Trump, Buttigieg groaned and asked, "Does it have to be between those two?”

"It’s really strange because I used to believe that… [Pence] believes in our institutions and he's not personally corrupt, but then how could he get on board with this presidency?” Buttigieg eventually responded. “How could he allow himself to become the cheerleader for the porn star presidency...Is it that he stopped believing in scripture when he started believing in Trump?

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Pete Buttigieg, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, called Vice President Mike Pence the “cheerleader for the porn star presidency”, lambasting the former governor of his home state of Indiana for defending President Trump https://t.co/cBePc2Ws2W #CNNTownHall pic.twitter.com/UqDxeC1Kru — CNN (@CNN) March 11, 2019

Before ascending to the vice presidency, Pence was Buttigieg’s Indiana governor. As mayor, Buttigieg spoke out against Pence’s 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that threatened to allow business owners to discriminate against LGBT people.

"This is something that sends exactly the wrong message when we have been working so hard to move Indiana into the 21st century,” Buttigieg said at the time. "It sends the message that some would rather we move backwards." Amid backlash that included corporate boycotts of the state, the Indiana legislature added an amendment to the bill that protects LGBT people from discrimination.

During the town hall, Buttigieg also said he supported expanding Medicare to all Americans who want to buy into it, and discussed his experiences in Afghanistan. He called for an end to the "war on trans Americans" and for a Federal Equality Act that wold protect the employment rights of members of the LGBT community.

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Mayor Pete Buttigieg: "We've got to end the war on trans Americans and we need a federal equality act that would say that you cannot be fired just because of who you are or just because you love." pic.twitter.com/85wKS9OLho — The Hill (@thehill) March 11, 2019

What are his chances in 2020?

Buttigieg’s campaign began as such a long shot that bookmakers initially didn’t even bother to calculate his odds of him winning the presidency, but his campaign will undoubtedly receive a major boost from this polished and viral town hall performance. FiveThirtyEight mapped his path to the presidency as one that would court the young, leftist wing of the Democratic Party. And he's already attracted praise from influential Democrats, including Barack Obama, who, at the end of his presidency, identified Buttigieg as one of the party's rising stars.

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I have rarely seen a candidate make better use of televised Town Hall than @PeteButtigieg is on @CNN tonight. Crisp, thoughtful and relatable. He’ll be a little less of a long shot tomorrow. — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 11, 2019

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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