(CNN) There are now 17 hopefuls vying for the Democratic vote to become President of the United States, but there's only one whose spouse has become a talker.

If Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is having a moment, so is his husband, 29-year-old Chasten Buttigieg. His sense of humor and revealing honesty about his feelings have been a hit on social media, boosting his followers by the tens of thousands in recent weeks and helping put "Mayor Pete" on the millennial radar.

"The thing I love about him, and maybe the thing you love about him, too, is he is the same person whether we are at home folding laundry together, or if he's in front of a room like this, full of supporters. He's the exact same person," said Buttigieg on Thursday night at a Washington fundraiser for his husband.

Buttigieg's rise in popularity hasn't affected his public voice, which he uses to talk about everything from sartorial challenges -- on Thursday, he pleaded with the cast of "Queer Eye" via a tweet to help him find a good tuxedo -- to the personal decision gay people make to reveal their sexual orientation.

"Your time in the closet and your journey to coming out belong to you. You are not required to open healed wounds or write lengthy threads in order to explain your worth to others who aren't willing to see it themselves. You matter first," Buttigieg tweeted earlier this week.

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