Austin Mayor Steve Adler embraces Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., during a presidential campaign stop at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden in downtown Austin Saturday. [Stephen Spillman for Statesman] ▲ Pete Buttigieg speaks at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth Street after attending a fundraiser. [Stephen Spillman for Statesman] ▲ Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to a crowd estimated by his campaign to number 750 at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden on Saturday evening. [Stephen Spillman for Statesman] ▲ Mayor Pete Buttigieg reacts to the crowd at a presidential campaign rally in downtown Austin on Saturday. [Stephen Spillman for Statesman] ▲

At a rollicking rally on a sweltering Saturday evening at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth Street, Pete Buttigieg was asked what makes him stand out from the rest of the field of candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I think my greatest strength is that I'm just not like the others," said Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind. "We have the most diverse field of presidential candidates ever and I'm proud to be part of that. And I think broadly, we have similar values. But I think we have a different style, and I represent a different kind of messaging."

"And I think what people want more than anything, let's be honest, we just want to beat this person," he said of President Donald Trump. "This is why it's important to do something different. See Democrats, God bless us, sometimes we overthink things. Right? And there's a risk that we will try to play it safe, because we think that's how we're going to win. Sometimes we don't inspire people in a lot of cases. So I believe in order to win, you can't look like we're just kind of recycling."

Instead, he said, voters need to see, "we're going to do something completely different."

Buttigieg is that.

At 37, he is barely half the age of former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, among the frontrunners. Buttigieg would be the youngest Democratic nominee since William Jennings Bryan in the first of his three runs just before and after the turn of the 20th century. But Buttigieg said that was a long time ago, and Bryan didn't win.

A great president "can be of any age," he said. "I think it really matters what your vision is, and it helps if you have a personal stake in the world."

In other words, the younger you are, the longer you will be around to live with the consequences of your leadership.

The 2020 election is "going to decide not just what the next few years of the presidency are going to look like," Buttigieg said.

"We're lucky and unlucky enough to be living in one of those moments that sets the tone for what the next half century is going to look like," he said. "It is up to us."

Buttigieg also would be the first openly gay person to serve as president or be a major party nominee.

It didn't come up at the rally. It didn't need to. He went straight from the rally to leading the Austin Pride Parade, marching down Congress Avenue from the Capitol alongside two supporters — Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, the first openly gay man to serve on City Council.

Earlier in the day, Adler and Flannigan hosted a fundraiser for Buttigieg. Tickets were $1,000 and $2,800.

Classic candidate

Kathy Gallion, 62, said she came to the rally to see Buttigieg in person, unedited. She had been impressed by his smarts and even keel and ability to stay positive and above the fray. She also liked the fact that Trump had so far not been able to get his number. She said the president tried to apply a nickname to him, but it didn't take. She had not been as excited by a politician since Gov. Ann Richards, she said.

Buttigieg is the first political love for Ashley Simon, 31, of Austin, who works in HR and likes the fact that he is a candidate of her generation, shaped by the same life experiences and traumas. The Saturday rally was the first political event she ever attended.

For all his being different than the crowd, she said, he also fits classic American expectations — from being a veteran with service in Afghanistan to owning two dogs, one with only one eye.

"How more American can you get?" said Simon, wearing a shirt devoted to Buttigieg's dogs.

Buttigieg, with his close-cropped hair, wore a starched white shirt and tie, his shirt cuffs rolled up just a smidgen. He came out as gay at age 33, and in 2018 married his partner Chasten, who has taken Buttigieg's name. One woman in the crowd wore a "Chasten for first gentleman" T-shirt.

Austin touchstone

Austin has been a kind of touchstone for his campaign. It was a CNN town hall during South By Southwest in March that introduced him to a mass audience for the first time. With a memorable performance, Buttigieg — a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar and speaker of seven languages — went from novelty candidate to the real deal. The SXSW coup came even as former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, was teasing his incipient presidential candidacy at the premier of "Running with Beto," a documentary about his close but losing challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2018.

O'Rourke got in the race in mid-March followed by Buttigieg a month later.

In the months since, Buttigieg and O'Rourke have swapped spots politically — with Buttigieg emerging as the next new thing after O'Rourke, raising an astonishing $24.8 million in the second quarter, more than any other Democratic candidate. He is at 6.5% in the most recent RealClearPolitics polling average, while O'Rourke is at 2%.

Adler endorsed Buttigieg, as did Flannigan. Adler would introduce O'Rourke at Austin rallies in his Senate campaign and when he first entered the presidential race. But he considers the younger Buttigieg his mentor as a mayor, and close friend. He was chosen by Buttigieg to introduce him at his kickoff announcement in South Bend.

Adler introduced Buttigieg Saturday night, praising him to the hilt and returning to the stage after Buttigieg spoke to read audience questions to the candidate, noting that he had been at rallies with 1,000 people before (the campaign estimated the crowd at closer to 750), "but I have never been to a rally of 1,000 before where the candidate insisted on taking questions."