Pete Buttigieg:

Well, I believe we're in a moment that calls for something completely new.

And, among other things, I think it calls for voices from the Industrial Midwest, a place that, in particular my party, to its detriment, largely ignored in past election cycles.

I think it also calls for somebody from a newer generation. You know, as a millennial — I'm just old enough or young enough to qualify as an older millennial — I'm from the generation that, for one thing, grew up experiencing school shootings as the norm. I was in high school when Columbine happened.

We are the generation that's going to be on the business end of climate change, that's going to have to pick up the pieces of the fiscal mess that will be made by current tax policy.

And, economically, we could be the first generation in American history to make less than our parents if nothing is done. So I think that those kinds of voices have been missing from the debate, and it's time to step forward.

I get that it's a nontraditional path, compared to, let's say, being in the Congress. But, as an executive, with on-the-ground experience in government, I would also argue that the more Congress starts looking or Washington starts looking like our best-run cities and towns, instead of the other way around, the better off we will be.