Pete Buttigeig announced the possibility of throwing his hat in as a Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential election. If he decides to run, the 37-year-old will break barriers as the first openly gay nominee of a major political party.
Buttigieg (pronounced boot-uh-judge) is the 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and an army combat veteran.
He announced his launch for a presidential exploratory committee, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a video on Wednesday.
In the announcement video, he discussed topical issues affecting his generation and of his intent to shake things up for a better tomorrow.
"I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now.""
"We're the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11. And we're the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different."
He added:
"There's a new generation of voices in our country. Walking away from the politics of the past and ready to deliver on our priorities."
The exploratory committee is an organization meant to determine if a candidate has potential or feasibility to run for an elected office.
He told reporters that running for the 2020 presidential bid as a gay candidate is now a "fact of life."
"One of the things that I think every person should think about in the run up to 2020, especially because there are a lot of people, is that it is not only the outcome but the conduct of campaigns that will make an impact on the political life of our country."
"When I came out, Mike Pence was the Governor of Indiana. When I joined the military, 'don't ask, don't tell' was the law of the land. And when it first crossed my mind that I might run for office someday, I believed that coming out would be a death sentence."
"So the world is changing but it's not changing on its own."
You can watch his response in the NBC News YouTube clip, below.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg Reflects On Running As Openly Gay Presidential Candidate | NBC Newswww.youtube.com
Supporters believe Buttigieg would be a strong candidate should he choose to toss his hat in the ring.
The prospect of him getting elected is a long-shot, but the possibility of his candidacy is compelling. If elected, he could become the youngest president of the United States, beating out Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, who were elected president at 42 and 43, respectively.
At 29, Buttigieg became the youngest mayor of a city with a population of more than 100,000 people, according to Five Thirty Eight. During his first term, he took a seven month leave to serve in the Naval Reserve in Afghanistan in 2015.
When he came out of the closet less than a year later, the gay politician won a second term as the Mayor of South Bend on November 3, 2015, with over 80% of the vote, despite public knowledge of his sexuality.
With his core base of Millennials becoming a powerful voice leading up to 2020, Buttigieg's chances of overcoming the odds to clinch a presidential victory is a strong possibility, but he would still need to make inroads with additional groups of voters.
Pete Buttigieg, we have nothing but time to build these relationships.
This reaction is a very propitious beginning.
