Pete Buttigieg: What the Democratic candidate believes, and his chances of earning nomination for the 2020 US election The small city millennial mayor has risen to be among the top candidates for US President

Buttigieg (pronounced “Boot-edge-edge”) is the breakout star of the 2020 Democratic primaries.

In what has been a relatively predictable primary – the best known candidates of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have dominated – the emergence of the millennial presidential candidate has shaken things up.

“As far as I’m concerned, one real thing has happened [in 2020],” the New York Times poll analyst Nate Cohn wrote. “Buttigieg has emerged.”

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He has managed to surpass many better-known candidates, including Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke, who dropped out earlier in the race due to lack of funding and popular support.

Buttigieg has done better in maintaining these key measures. He raised more than $24m in the last quarter and is polling around seven per cent in presidential polls – which places him in fourth place, so his surprising success is still unlikely to make him the nominee.

But his sway on the race may be critical: his moderate voters, if they adhere to an hypothetical future endorsement, could be the difference in a close final three between Biden, Sanders and Warren. He could also go into a future major race as a far more serious player on the back of this run.

Who is Pete Buttigieg?

The mayor of a small city in Indiana, the 38-year-old was almost completely unknown one year ago. Now he is positioned as a potential leader among the next generation of Democrats — gay, millennial and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

He has become respected as an intellectual – he studied at Harvard and Oxford – making him seen by many as an antidote to Trump. After graduating he worked for McKinsey, the management consultancy firm.

What does he believe?

His policy agenda is more moderate than many of his rivals, but would still be a progressive agenda for the US. He has endorsed a form of single-payer healthcare system, ‘Medicare For All Who Want It’, which would build on Obama’s healthcare reforms, and endorsed many elements of the Green New Deal for tackling climate change, and taxes on the wealthiest.

His constitutional reforms are the some of his most radical policies compared to his rivals. He wants to abolish the Electoral College, which saw Hillary Clinton receive three million more votes than rival Donald Trump, but still lose the presidency because they weren’t in the right places. Al Gore also won more votes than George W. Bush, but lost for the same reasons. Historically, the electoral college was designed to protect smaller, central states from being dominated by the populous coastal ones.

He also wants to reform the Supreme Court to include 15 justices, rather than the current nine.

“One solution that I’ve been discussing in recent weeks is structuring it with 15 members, but five of whom can only be seated by a unanimous consensus of the other 10,” he said. “Anything that would make a Supreme Court vacancy less of an apocalyptic ideological struggle would be an improvement.”

What do critics say?

Critics say that, as someone born in 1982, he lacks the experience and age to be the most powerful person in US politics. His only hands on experience of governing is running a small town of around 100,000 inhabitants. His years spent studying at elite institutions and then as a management consultant are a long way from ordinary people’s lives.

Buttigieg says: “I’ve got more government experience than the president. I’ve got more executive experience than the vice president. And I’ve got more military experience than anybody to walk into that office since George H. W. Bush.”

One thing you need to know about Pete

He reportedly speaks seven languages in addition to his native English: Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, Dari and French. He apparently learned Norwegian for the sole purpose of reading an interesting-sounding book.