A Short History: Pete Buttigieg's Groundbreaking Political Milestones

Pete Buttigieg's Career Milestones

Pete Buttigieg has had a swift rise from local to national prominence. He was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., his hometown, in 2011, having been a Rhodes Scholar, an Afghan war vet, and a corporate consultant. He came out as gay while running for his second term in 2015, and he was handily reelected. Then came his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination; he didn't get the nod, but he did get a nomination for a cabinet position and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate -- a first for an out LGBTQ+ person. Now he's the subject of a documentary, Mayor Pete, focusing on his presidential run. With that playing at film festivals and set for release on Amazon Prime November 12, we take a look at his career milestones.

2011: Elected Mayor of South Bend

2011: Buttigieg is elected mayor of his native city, South Bend, Ind., making him youngest mayor of a U.S. city with a population of more than 100,000 -- 30 when he is sworn in the following year. He is not out at the time, but he is an LGBTQ+ rights supporter; South Bend adopts an inclusive antidiscrimination ordinance in his first year in office. Buttigieg brings an impressive resume to the job. He is a graduate of Harvard University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar; he has worked for the consulting firm of McKinsey and Co. and served in the Navy Reserves. In South Bend his priorities include spurring economic growth, with technology companies stepping in to make up for the decline in manufacturing.

2015: Coming Out

During his reelection campaign, Buttigieg comes out in a column in the South Bend Tribune. "For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her," he writes. "And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn't know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we're all in this together as a community." He wins reelection soundly.

2019: Running for President

Buttigieg announces he's seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. "The bottom line is I think it's time for a new generation of leadership," he says. He forms an exploratory committee in January and officially announces his run in April. He is endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to elect viable out candidates. His campaign stops include this one pictured at the Abbey, a famous West Hollywood gay bar.

2019: Sharing Coming-Out Story on Debate Stage

Buttigieg, who's already the first out candidate to appear in a national major-party debate, makes further history by sharing his coming-out story in an ABC News debate in September. Asked by moderator George Stephanopoulos to share an example of resilience, Buttigieg reflects on his decision to come out in 2015, while running for a second term as mayor and having returned from a deployment in Afghanistan the previous year.

"As a military officer serving under 'don't ask, don't tell,' and as an elected official in the state of Indiana when Mike Pence was governor, at a certain point, when it came to professional setbacks, I had to wonder whether just acknowledging who I was was going to be the ultimate career-ending professional setback," Buttigieg acknowledged.

"I came back from the deployment and realized that you only get to live one life. And I was not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer, so I just came out."

2020: A (Qualified) Win in Iowa

In January, Buttigieg wins the most delegates in the Iowa presidential caucus, the first contest of the election cycle, buoying his campaign although U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wins the popular vote in the caucus.

2020: Dropping Out, Endorsing Biden

After winning the most delegates in the Iowa caucus and finishing second to Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary, Buttigieg finishes farther down the ballot in Nevada and New Hampshire, leading him to end his campaign March 1. The next day he endorses former Vice President Joe Biden, who will go on to be the Democratic nominee and be elected president.

Defeating Donald Trump and "to win the era for the values that we share" formed a goal that was always bigger than winning the White House for himself, Buttigieg says. "It is in the name of that very same goal that I am delighted to endorse and support Joe Biden for the president," he says. Buttigieg gets a high compliment from Biden, who says the former mayor reminds him of his late son, Beau.

2020: The Fox News Whisperer

In the run-up to the election, Buttigieg makes several appearances on Fox News, where the hosts' attempts to do a "gotcha" on him or his party fail miserably thanks to Buttigieg's sharp wit and grasp of the facts. In October, he has a ready comeback for Fox's Martha McCallum when she asks why vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris moved away from the Medicare for All stance she'd adopted in the primary when she was running her own campaign. The fact that she's now on Biden's ticket and therefore moved toward his policy is the easy answer, but Buttigieg seizes the moment to point out Vice President Mike Pence's hypocrisy.

"Well, there's a classic parlor game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates," Buttigieg says, adding, "If people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with a president caught with a porn star," highlighting how Pence only leans into his faith when it's convenient to court evangelicals.

2021: A Cabinet Member and a Father

In February, Buttigieg is confirmed as secretary of the Department of Transportation, becoming the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community to be confirmed by the Senate for a cabinet post. Husband Chasten Buttigieg had attended the confirmation hearing with him and received Pete's public thanks for being at his side. In September, he and Chasten welcome twin babies, making Pete the first gay dad in the cabinet.

In a statement to The Advocate, Buttigieg reflects on all this progress: "Just a couple generations earlier, being out (or being outed) might mean being unable to serve in any government job at all. Yet earlier this year, I was sworn in as the first out, Senate-confirmed member of a president's cabinet, with my husband Chasten standing by my side, holding the Bible. And more recently, we became parents to two beautiful children. It's strange to think that having a spouse and children -- in many ways the most normal thing about my life -- is so extraordinary as to have been basically impossible just a few years ago. But this shift shows the power of advocacy and courage, as people like me walk down a path that so many others have helped to clear when the hard way was the only way."