Until recently, I was also an undecided voter. With so much at stake in this election, it has been a difficult choice. As I evaluated each of the candidates, I asked myself two questions: First, who can beat President Trump? And second, who has a promising vision for our country that can be achieved given our deep polarization?

However, beating Trump is the lowest bar. That alone will not be enough to overcome our greatest challenges — a looming climate catastrophe, a broken health care system, and income inequality — which have only grown worse these last four years.


That’s why Pete’s vision and plans to unite our country and turn the page on all the division and chaos we’ve seen from Washington resonated with me.

I arrived in this country as a toddler. My parents emigrated from Sri Lanka, which was in the midst of a civil war, to offer my brother and me a better future. Like many immigrants, they worked hard, my father as an engineering professor at a small public college and my mother as a piano teacher. Pete’s message of belonging, as well as his humane immigration policies and commitment to keep families together, speak directly to me and our American values.

As a woman and the mother of a daughter, I want to make sure women’s rights are protected. Pete supports equal pay for equal work, a woman’s right to health and choice, and the Equal Rights Amendment. He has also committed to appointing at least 50 percent women to the cabinet and judiciary.

As an environmental engineer, I have worked on environmental policy for over two decades. Our climate is dangerously close to a tipping point. Pete understands the “urgency of now” on climate action because he, like my children, will have to live with the consequences if we do not act. Nothing short of a bold and smart climate and renewable energy agenda will do — and that’s exactly what Pete has proposed.


I also grew up in rural Western New York, surrounded by dairy farms, and too often these communities have felt left out of the conversation in Washington. Pete understands the only way we can solve some of our nation’s greatest challenges, including something as big and complex as climate change, is if we engage these communities and work together.

As Pete says, “As president, I won’t nibble around the edges. I will turn the page on the broken politics of Washington, D.C., and change the trajectory of our country for the better. And I’ll do it by mobilizing, rather than polarizing, the American people.”

With Pete’s inspiring message, I am reminded of another young leader who called us to our best selves: Barack Obama. In 2007, I was proud to be an early supporter of his presidency and cofound South Asians for Obama — a national grass-roots movement to support his candidacy.

Like Obama, Pete’s message and plans will resonate with all Americans — whether they are from rural, urban, red, or blue districts. And like Obama, coming from the Midwest, Pete speaks the language of states like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — critical states we need to win.


Above all, Pete has a calming energy and reassuring presence. On the day after the 2016 election, I woke up holding my 3-week-old daughter fearful for her future. But hearing Pete Buttigieg speak for the first time last month, I felt hopeful again.

With Buttigieg we have a chance to begin writing the next chapter in our nation’s history. And we can fill those pages with the story of how we came together to face the global climate crisis, fix our health care system, and restore our values.

That is the future I want for my children and for our country, which is why I will proudly vote for Pete Buttigieg. I hope you join me.

Shanika Amarakoon is an environmental engineer and secretary of the Portsmouth Democrats.