Pete Buttigieg

Born: January 19, 1982

Political Party: Democratic Party

Past Position: Mayor of South Bend, Indiana (2012-2019)

Past Positions: Conference director for the Cohen Group (2004-2005); Consultant at McKinsey & Company and fellow at the Truman National Security Project (2007-2009); Intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve (2009-2017); Various posts on political campaigns for Jill Long Thompson, Joe Donnelly, John Kerry and Barack Obama.

Education: Bachelor's degree in history and literature from Harvard University; Rhodes scholarship; Bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race in March 2020.

Pete Buttigieg doesn't fit in a political box. And in a crowded Democratic presidential primary field, that is the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor's strength and weakness.

At 38, Buttigieg is the youngest contender in the field, and frequently points out how he has a younger generation's perspective on issues like climate change and gun violence. Yet he has not yet become the favorite of young voters. He's hyper-intellectual, with a Rhodes scholarship, an Ivy League education and multilingualism to his credit, yet exudes the folksiness of his Midwestern roots. He's unaggressively progressive, calling his health care plan "Medicare for All Who Want It." In his photos with his spouse, he looks like a typical, almost boring, married guy – who just happens to be married to a man.

All of that may be the reason Buttigieg – who calls himself "Mayor Pete" for those who haven't accessed his helpful pronunciation guide on his Twitter account (it's BOOT-edge-edge) – is where he is, in the presidential campaign. After an impressive debut on the primary scene after announcing his candidacy April 14, Buttigieg is in an oddly stable position – not emerging to the very top tier, yet not fading from the debate stage and begging supporters for cash so he can stay in the race. He's not been branded as the candidate of the burgeoning leftist wing of the Democratic Party, or of people of color, or of mainstreamers looking for someone tested and "electable." Mayor Pete's standing in the field is exactly the image he projects on the trail: stable, serious and not going away.

"There's an electricity about him," but at the same time, a sort of "Sunday School-teacher" lack of guile that could have a particular appeal at this tumultuous time in politics, says Robert Dion, chairman of the political science department at the University of Evansville in Indiana. "One thing that leaps out about him is that he's so fundamentally decent. At a very noisy and unpleasant time, he is rock solid," adds Dion.

While Buttigieg does not appear to have a natural base or constituency, he could end up being the candidate America wants to heal from a bruising time – much as peanut farmer and former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter seemed like a breath of fresh air after the resignation of President Richard Nixon, Dion says (though Carter did not turn out to be a popular president, Dion acknowledges).

Far from apologizing for his youth, Buttigieg celebrates it, noting that he has more executive experience than the current president of the United States, and has a handle on the very real crisis faced by his generation.

The candidate "belongs to the generation that came of age with school shootings, the generation that provided the majority of the troops in the conflicts after 9/11, the generation that is on the business end of climate change, and the generation that – unless we take action – stands to be the first to be worse off economically than their parents," Buttigieg's website says. "We cannot find greatness in the past," it adds.

Buttigieg on the Trail View All 16 Images

Personal History

Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg has a personal history seemingly made for political candidates. An only child, Buttigieg was born in South Bend on Jan. 19, 1982, to Jennifer Anne Montgomery Buttigieg and Joseph Buttigieg, a Maltese immigrant who was a literature professor at the prestigious (and local) University of Notre Dame. The younger Buttigieg was class valedictorian at St. Joseph High School in South Bend in 2000. That same year, he won first place in the Profile in Courage awards given by the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. His topic? Then-independent congressman and future Democratic primary foe Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Buttigieg attended Harvard University, majoring in history and literature, and held the prestigious position of president of the Harvard Institute of Politics Student Advisory Committee. In that role, he worked on the IOP's study of 18-29-year-olds view of politics and issues (that poll, in the spring of 2019, had Buttigieg as the first choice of 1 percent of young people, though the survey was taken before the alumnus's formal presidential candidacy announcement). After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, Buttigieg was awarded an illustrious Rhodes scholarship, earning first-class honors in philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford in England. He also was an editor of the Oxford International Review.

Buttigieg speaks Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, Dari Persian, and French, and taught himself Norweigian so he could read a favorite author in the original language.

Political Career

During and soon after his academic years, Buttigieg got a taste of politics and campaigns. He interned for Jill Long Thompson's 2002 unsuccessful congressional campaign and later advised her unsuccessful 2008 gubernatorial campaign. Buttigieg also worked for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and Joe Donnelly's 2006 congressional campaign. It was during his volunteer work in 2007 for Barack Obama's presidential campaign that Buttigieg decided to join the military. So many young people in rural communities were stepping up to serve, Buttigieg thought, and it was only fair that people of his background and academic credentials do the same.

Buttigieg worked for the prominent consulting group McKinsey & Co. from 2007-2010. In 2009, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve, serving as a lieutenant until 2017. In 2010, Buttigieg made his first run for office, getting trounced in his campaign for Indiana state treasurer. He did much better the following year, when he was elected to his first term as mayor of South Bend with 74% of the vote and becoming, at age 29, the city's youngest mayor.

During his first term, Buttigieg took an unpaid, seven-month leave to deploy to Afghanistan as a specialist in counterterrorism. For his counterterrorism work, he earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal. And while the military's "don't ask, don't tell" prohibition on being public about one's LGBT status was no longer in effect, Buttigieg was still in the closet.

That changed in 2015, when then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows people to assert religious beliefs as a legal defense – and which has been roundly criticized as a government license to discriminate against gays, lesbians and bisexual and transgender people. In solidarity as he blasted the law, Buttigieg came out as gay. In June 2018, he married high school teacher Chasten Glezman, whom he met on a dating app. Glezman began using Buttigieg's last name in 2019.

Legislative and Executive History

Buttigieg, now in his second term as mayor, is known for his "Smart Streets" initiative to add bike paths, sidewalks, roundabouts and other infrastructure improvements meant to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly and appealing to new business. Buttigieg credits the project for spurring more than $100 million in direct investment, revitalizing the urban area. He also forged a program to tear down – or require improvements – of dilapidated buildings in South Bend.

Buttigieg has had troubles, however, when it comes to his city's minority community. Soon after taking the helm as mayor, Buttigieg fired a popular African American police chief who, it turned out, had been secretly taping the conversations of white officers who were said to have used racist language, including against the police chief. Buttigieg said he had lost confidence in the chief after learning the FBI was investigating the improper wiretapping (both the chief and the white officers have won financial settlements in separate cases). In his memoir, "Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future," Buttigieg said the episode "affected my relationship with the African American community in particular for years to come."

And in June 2019, when a white South Bend police officer shot and killed a black man who reportedly had a knife, the reaction of the Indiana city's black community was angry, exposing an already-chilly relationship with the mayor. Asked at the June 27 Democratic presidential debate in Miami why there weren't more African American officers, Buttigieg blamed himself. "Because I couldn't get it done," he said. "It's a mess. And we're hurting. ... I am determined to bring about a day when a white person driving a vehicle and a black person driving a vehicle when they see a police officer approaching feels the exact same thing. A feeling not of fear but of safety."

The following month, Buttigieg proposed The Douglass Plan, named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass and meant to "dismantle racist structures and systems." The plan offers a sweeping and ambitious series of proposals – including Health Equity Zones and a reformed and diversified school system – to reform the health, educational and criminal justice system disparities Buttigieg said foster racism.

Political Cartoons on Pete Buttigieg View All 5 Images

Buttigieg has been slow to unveil detailed policy proposals, but they have steadily been emerging. His "Medicare for All Who Want It" envisions a single-payer plan – but does not force people to give up their private insurance, as other candidates' proposals dictate. He also has released plans for rural America, gun safety, climate change and a "new call to service," promoting service to the community.

Buttigieg has some other ideas – such as eliminating the Electoral College and increasing the size of the Supreme Court to 15 justices, with five confirmed by the unanimous support of the other 10 – that are far less plausible in the current political environment.

The downside of Buttigieg's middling place in the horse race is that he doesn't get the day-in, day-out attention awarded to several of the higher-polling candidates. The upside is that Buttigieg is able to campaign without having every move, statement or policy proposal excavated and analyzed for shortcomings. And that steady-as-she-goes approach could catapult Buttigieg higher in the long list of candidates. Why, Buttigieg was asked at the Texas Tribune Festival in September, should primary voters cast a ballot for him, and not one of the front-runners?

"Electability," Buttigieg responded.

Where Pete Buttigieg Stands on the Issues:

Buttigieg supports a woman's right to choose and would ensure all women have access to health care that includes preventative care, contraceptive services, prenatal and postpartum care and access to safe and legal abortion procedures.

Buttigieg on Criminal Justice: Buttigieg's criminal justice platform includes reforms to the policing system, the federal prison system, education and health care. His proposal would:

Eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply sentence reductions retroactively.

Legalize marijuana and expunge past convictions.

Double funding for federal grants for states that commit to criminal justice reform by prioritizing programs aimed at pretrial reforms, decarceration and expansion of alternative to incarceration programs.

Eliminate mandatory minimums.

Establish an independent clemency commission that sits outside of the Department of Justice.

Eliminate private federal prisons.

Push to eliminate arrests and incarceration as punishment for failing to pay legal financial obligations.

Appoint an attorney general, deputy attorney general and U.S. sentencing commissioners who are committed to transforming the criminal justice system.

Abolish the death penalty.

Reduce the over-reliance on solitary confinement.

Restore Pell Grant access to people who are incarcerated.

Remove the Medicaid exception for incarcerated people.

Support ban the box initiatives and other ways to ensure that people with criminal records have equal access to employment.

Restore the right to vote for all formerly incarcerated people.

Establish a comprehensive federal database to document use of force by police officers and track officers who are fired from their duties.

Increase the number of police departments that use body-worn cameras.



Buttigieg on the Economy: Buttigieg supports raising the minimum wage and protecting workers' rights to unionize. His plan for the economy would:

Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Propose legislation to immediately make public the total pay gap between men and women at every large company.

End "right-to-work" laws that make it difficult for unions to collectively bargain.

Ensure that all workers can bargain with companies and prevent union election interference.

Guarantee workers access to paid sick leave and paid family leave.

Include domestic workers, who have been historically excluded from employment laws, in common workplace rights and protections.



Buttigieg on Education: Buttigieg would boost funding for poor students and teacher pay, and establish free college and the elimination of student loan debt for some. His education plan would:





Increase funding for Title I for poor students.

Issue new regulations to diversify the teaching profession.

Increase teacher pay, targeted to districts where it will it will bring the most benefit.

Eliminate the cost of tuition at public colleges and universities for low-income and middle-income families.

Increase funding for the Pell Grant program to cover basic living expenses.

Eliminate student loan debt for borrowers who attended for-profit programs and others of low-quality.

Invest $25 billion in historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions.

Provide more financial support for students entering public service.



Buttigieg on Energy and Climate Change: Buttigieg's sweeping climate plan includes building a clean economy, establishing a natural disaster relief plan and motivating other countries to shift their practices to be more environmentally friendly. His plan would:

Among many other things, his plan to shift to a clean economy would enact a price on carbon; quadruple federal clean energy R&D funding to $25 billion per year; establish an American Clean Energy Bank to provide loans, grants and credit enhancements to finance clean energy technologies and energy efficiency; eliminate subsidies for industries that pollute; develop new tax incentives for energy efficiency; enact more stringent vehicle emission standards; and double funding for R&D at the Department of Agriculture to support for farmers and ranchers to adopt advanced soil management methods and technologies that help mitigate climate change.

Establish a natural disaster commission that would establish a permanent source of disaster relief funding and streamline the application for federal grants and data collection. His natural disaster plan would also provide funding and training for community volunteer first-responders and private sector partnerships that help communities prepare.

Commit to being a global leader on climate change by rejoining the Paris climate agreement; revitalize leadership in the Arctic Council; increase funding for developing nations; and sign a "Buy Clean" executive order mandating that any new material the federal government uses or pays for to construct buildings, roads, bridges, or other infrastructure, must be under a specified level of carbon emissions.



Buttigieg on Foreign Policy: Buttigieg proposes a fundamental rethink to foreign policy that would end ongoing wars and create new standards for the deployment of military force. He'd also focus on reversing the rise of authoritarianism abroad and new emerging threats, including climate change.

Buttigieg on Guns: Buttigieg supports universal background checks and establishing a gun licensing system, among many other things. His proposal also includes policies to counter hate and extremism. His plan for guns would:

Institute universal background checks.

Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Support red flag laws that disarm domestic abusers.

Establish a nationwide gun licensing system.

Resume federal funding for gun violence research.

Close loopholes that will reduce the number of intimate partner homicides.

Eliminate a loophole that currently allows federally licensed gun dealers who initiate a background check to complete the sale if they aren't notified within three business days that the sale would violate federal or state laws.

Prohibit people convicted of hate crimes from acquiring or possessing firearms.

Invest $1 billion to prevent and combat radicalization and violent extremism.

Increase the FBI's domestic counterterrorism field staff and strengthen ties to state and local authorities.

Create a database to track hate.

Pursue domestic white nationalists with international terrorism links.

Work with social media and other online platforms to identify and limit the spread of hateful ideology.



Buttigieg on Health Care: Buttigieg's health care platform is centered around his own personal brand of "Medicare for All," which is "Medicare for All Who Want It." What that means, he says, is establishing an affordable public option that anyone can opt into. If private insurers are unable to perform better, the public plan would create a natural "glide-path" to Medicare for All. His plan would:

End surprise medical billing.

Expand premium subsidies for low-income people.

Cap marketplace premium payments at 8.5% for everyone.

Cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare, with a lower cap for low-income seniors.

Limit what health care providers can charge for out-of-network care.

Make it easier to access mental health and substance abuse services.

Create a central clearinghouse for insurance claims and require integration of electronic records.

Increase funding for federal antitrust authorities to oversee healthcare mergers.



Buttigieg on Immigration: Buttigieg supports a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country without legal status and plans to focus on rolling back much of the Trump administration's immigration agenda. His plan would:

Establish a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living, working and paying taxes, as well as for people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents at a young age.

Increase resources to reduce backlogs in the lawful immigration and asylum process.

End the policy of separating families at the border.

Prevent arbitrary targeting of immigrant communities by enforcement officials.



Buttigieg on LGBTQ Rights: Buttigieg supports equal rights for the LGBTQ community. His plan would:

Push Congress to pass the Equality Act.

Reverse the ban on transgender military service.

Enforce the nondiscrimination provisions of the health care law.

Push Congress to pass legislation to combat bullying in schools.

Push Congress to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ adoptive or foster parents.

Ban conversion therapy.

Combat HIV by ensuring access to preventative medicine for everyone who needs it.



Buttigieg on Race and Civil Rights: Buttigieg would tackle race and civil rights issues by overhauling parts of the health care and education systems, as well as addressing voting and gerrymandering issues. His plan would:

Designate and fund Health Equity Zones to address communities' most pressing health disparities.

Address the underrepresentation of black people in the health workforce, and train current health workforce to combat bias when treating patients.

Revitalize the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Invest in an equitable public education system by boosting federal resources for students at Title I schools.

Issue new regulations to diversify the teaching profession.

Increase funding for programs that expose more black students to science, technology, engineering and math courses.

Increase funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority-Serving Institutions by $25 billion.

Increase funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and create targeted grant funding aimed to promote the ongoing documentation of black history and promotion of black culture.

Preserve cultural and historic sites documenting the history of black people.

Issue "Dear Colleague" letters outlining best practices for the content and instruction inclusive of black history and the contributions of black Americans.

Establish a fund to invest in entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.

Aim to award 25% of federal contracting dollars to small business owners from underserved communities.

Launch a public trust that would purchase abandoned properties and provide them to eligible residents in pilot cities.

Tap federal resources to end all types of voter suppression and expand voting access.

Support D.C. statehood.

Work with federal agencies and Congress to address the effects of a Census undercount, which disproportionately impacts people of color.

Address discriminatory racial gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering.



Buttigieg on Rural America: Buttigieg's plan to reinvigorate rural parts of the country includes economic, education, health care and technology proposals. His plan would: