Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story misidentified a distinction of Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy. He is the first openly gay Democrat to run for president.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a hopeful 2020 presidential candidate, spoke Sunday during a Democratic presidential town hall in Austin, Texas, hosted by CNN.

The town hall at South by Southwest also featured former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who are also making bids for the White House in 2020.

The event was at Austin City Limits at the Moody Theater and moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. The candidates also answered questions by audience members.

The town hall, which was streamed live on CNN comes about six weeks after the openly gay candidate launched a presidential exploratory committee, throwing his name into a crowded field of Democrats who are running for president in 2020.

With about 11 months before his party’s first nominating contests, Buttigieg is still working to improve his name recognition. He shows up in some of the latest polling as the favorite of roughly 1 percent of Democratic primary voters.

Here are the takeaways from Buttigieg's portion of the SXSW town hall:

Buttigieg's qualifications for president

Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana, in 2011 at age 29, and became the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents.

He is currently in his second term and broke the news in mid-December that he would not seek a third.

He said Sunday that being mayor of a town like South Bend is the best preparation to have.

"I know it's more traditional to come from Congress or a background in Washington, but I would also argue that we would be well-served if Washington started to look more like our best-run cities and towns," he said. "I have more years of experience under my belt than the president."

How his candidacy will affect the LGBT community

In June 2015, Buttigieg wrote an essay announcing that he was gay and explained the importance of coming out as the Supreme Court mulled a decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

In June 2018, Buttigieg married Chasten Glezman at the Cathedral of Saint James Episcopal Church in South Bend.

"The most important thing in my life, my marriage, it exists by the grace of a single vote on the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "It's a reminder that our freedoms came about by choices made by policymakers who have the power, who had powers over me and millions of others."

He is the first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate in the United States.

Buttigieg said he once thought he could either be out or be in office — but not both.

"But I ended up getting re-elected by 80 percent of the vote," he said. "There are attacks right now on trans Americans. ... We need an equality act that says you cannot fire someone because of who they are."

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Buttigieg's thoughts on Mike Pence

When asked if he thought Vice President Mike Pence would be a better or worse president than Donald Trump, Buttigieg said he didn't understand how the former Indiana governor "could get on board with this presidency."

"How could he allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency? Is it that he stopped ... believing in Scripture when he started believing Donald Trump? I don't know."

In his book, "Shortest Way Home," released in February, Buttigieg takes issue with the role social conservatism played during Pence's administration as governor. On Sunday, Buttigieg mentioned Pence's 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, saying it drew criticism from local and business leaders across the state who feared it would allow for discrimination.

"Please don't judge my state by our former governor," Buttigieg told the audience in Texas on Sunday.

"When Mike Pence divided our state in 2015 with the Freedom Restoration Act, Democrats, and Republicans, business leaders, came together and revolted alongside progressives and showed me that there's a belief in decency that stands against that kind of social extremism."

The advantages and limitations of his age

Buttigieg, 37, is the youngest Democrat to have at least formed a presidential exploratory committee.

He said anyone who walks into the Oval Office has to recognize how much they do not know. And he said he believes his age can be an advantage.

"It allows me to communicate to the country a vision of what the country is going to look like in 2054 — that's the year I'll get to the age of the current president," Buttigieg said.

"When you're personally preparing for what the world is going to look like, then it gives you a different sense of urgency."

How he views climate change

On Sunday Buttigieg said that when he thinks of climate change, he doesn't see what the mainstream media typically portrays. He said he doesn't see a chunk of ice breaking off the Antarctic, but instead, what has happened recently in his hometown of South Bend.

"I see a family in South Bend right before school started trying to figure out what they're going to do after they've been run out of their house by a catastrophic flood," he said. "The time has ended for us to debate whether climate change is happening, but we need to start talking about it happening in our communities, in the heart of America today."

Buttigieg also said climate change has to be treated as an emergency and as a security issue in the U.S.

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