I’m rerunning this diary because there was some concern that some may not have had the opportunity to read it because it was originally published right before Christmas.
I chose to write about Mayor Pete Buttigieg, (pronounced BOOT-edge-edge), because I didn’t really know that much about him, and thought writing about him would be a good way to inform myself. I’m glad I did, and am looking forward to sharing what I’ve recently learned about him.
Pete Buttigieg is the nearly 37 year old popular Mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He’s also a Veteran of the war in Afghanistan, serving as a Naval Intelligence Officer. He’s a Harvard graduate and a Rhodes Scholar; and also a married gay man. His past work experience includes working a few years in Washington D.C. for former Secretary of Defense, William Cohen’s consulting firm. He’s also worked for McKinsey doing business consulting; work he considers important as Mayor of South Bend.
When it comes to being a mayor, Buttigieg thinks that his work at McKinsey might have been the most “intellectually informing experience" he's had.
www.washingtonpost.com/...
He’s got an impressive, and wide ranging resume, as a Veteran and Rhodes Scholar, along with being a very popular mayor who was re-elected with 80% of the vote. He’s brought the use of data into the Mayor’s office to help the city be more efficient and responsive to its citizens. He’s also smart enough to understand that technology and data driven policy is not enough to be successful.
Buttigieg can't be reduced to a data evangelist alone though. He thinks one of the biggest pitfalls of problem solving through graph and regression line is "where you could confuse policy or moral challenges for technological issues.”
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Although Buttigieg won’t make a decision until near the end of the month, he was expected to speak for the 2nd year in a row at the Progress Iowa Holiday Party in Des Moines on December 20th. Additionally, he’s already set up a PAC last year, Hitting Home, the requisite biography will be published next February, and he has already announced he won’t be running for re-election this year.
Every candidate has potential weak spots, and Buttigieg is no exception. One is that the pinnacle of his electoral experience is Mayor. Some will try and use that against him, but I have little doubt that he’s already honed a good response to those concerns.
More seriously, there have been a handful of race related controversies between the South Bend Police Department and African American residents of the city. Perhaps in response to some of the incidents, he created the first officer of diversity and inclusion for the city.
I’m going to close with this bit from his PAC website.
Under his leadership, South Bend has addressed its toughest challenges- seeing positive economic and population growth for the first time in decades and reimagining its role in the global economy with the development of key corridors.
In addition to his work as Mayor, Mayor Pete serves as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve. In 2014, he was actively deployed to Afghanistan for a seven-month tour of duty, returning in September. For his counterterrorism work, he earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
In 2017, he ran for Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair, earning national praise for his “rhetorical gift, thanks to his red-state upbringing” and ability to “[sell] Democratic policy through a less partisan lens.”
Regardless of whether he runs or not, or whether he’s a successful presidential candidate, we will definitely be hearing more from and about him in the future.
You can follow him on Twitter — @PeteButtigieg
Earlier diaries in this series include:
Background info on the series
Kamala Harris