Mayor Pete Makes It Official "I Am Running For President Of The United States"

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, officially enters the race for the White House

An enthusiastic crowd came together today in South Bend, Indiana, as Mayor Pete Buttigieg officially announced his candidacy for president of the United States.

"My name is Pete Buttigieg, they call me Mayor Pete," said the mayor standing before a crowd of thousands in his hometown. "I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana and I am running for president of the United States."

In speaking those words, he becomes the first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate in the history of the country. Should he make it to the finish line, he will not only be the first openly LGBTQ president, but the youngest person ever elected to the office.

“I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor,” he added, “more than a little bold, at age 37, to seek the highest office in the land.”

The South Bend mayor thanked his husband - “my love, Chasten" - “for giving me the strength to do this and the grounding to be myself as we go.”

Buttigieg hugs his husband, Chasten, after his speech in South Bend

The young mayor told the crowd, and the world, that the guiding principles for his campaign are "simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker: freedom, security, and democracy."

Expanding on the topic of freedom, he shared, “Take it from Chasten and me, you’re not free if the county clerk gets to tell you who you ought to marry ‘cause of their idea of their political beliefs.”

He also noted that it was just one vote on the Supreme Court that gave him the freedom to marry his husband.

"Our marriage exists by the grace of a single vote on the US Supreme Court," said Buttigieg. "Nine women and men sat down in a room and took a vote and they brought me the most important freedom in my life."

Buttigieg, currently serving his second term as mayor of South Bend, is Harvard educated, a Rhodes scholar, an Afghanistan war veteran who speaks seven languages.

In other words, the polar opposite of the current occupant of the White House.

In recent weeks, he's surged from zero support in political surveys to 3rd place in multiple polls.

A Monmouth University poll published this week showed Buttigieg in third place in Iowa with 9% support behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who garnered 27% and 16% respectively.

In New Hampshire, a Saint Anselm College poll put Biden at 23% support, Sanders at 16%, and Buttigieg at 11% support.

Those results put him ahead of more well-known names like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar.

Annise Parker, CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, was present at the announcement event, and said in a statement Buttigieg “shattered a lavender ceiling once thought unbreakable, becoming the first openly LGBTQ Democratic presidential candidate in American history and our first real shot at the Oval Office.”

“There is enormous power in an openly gay presidential candidate stumping at town halls in Iowa and speaking to Americans from the presidential debate stage – it changes perceptions of our community and raises the bar for candidates who seek LGBTQ support,” added Parker.

A candidate for the most powerful job in the world, proudly displaying the love for his husband. A message to every gay kid in America that they can be anything they want to be. Even president. pic.twitter.com/Z13TtQl8ZH

— Benjamin Butterworth (@benjaminbutter) April 14, 2019

Amen. pic.twitter.com/rlycqt4Tyz

— Hunky Gay Jesus™ (@HunkyGayJesus) April 14, 2019