Pete is the son of Joseph Buttigieg, a first-generation immigrant from Malta, and Anne Montgomery, a fifth-generation Hoosier. They raised him in South Bend, Indiana, in the same neighborhood where he lives today with his husband, Chasten, and their rescue dogs, Buddy and Truman.
South Bend was once home to Studebaker, one of the largest car manufacturers in America. Like many other Americans in the industrial Midwest, Pete grew up surrounded by empty factories and abandoned houses, hearing that the only way to a good life was to get out.
Leaving for college, Pete found himself part of a generation that came of age with school shootings, the generation that provided the majority of the troops in the conflicts after 9/11, the generation that is on the business end of climate change, and the generation that—unless we take action—stands to be the first to be worse off economically than their parents.
Pete knew his heart was in public service and came home to help his hometown bounce back. In 2011, Pete ran for and was elected Mayor of South Bend on a promise to bring the city back with a new approach to politics and new ideas.
As mayor, Pete worked across the aisle to transform South Bend into a 21st-century city and improve people’s everyday lives. Household income rose by 31 percent. Poverty fell by a third, and unemployment reached its lowest rate in two decades. The city launched a tech education center and brought nearly $400 million in private investment to downtown.
At the same time, Pete worked to build a South Bend community where every resident could feel safe and included. His first-of-its-kind municipal identification cards for undocumented immigrants brought residents out of the shadows, while a small business incubator established in a historically-Black neighborhood worked to expand opportunity. And while South Bend’s turnaround continues, the people of South Bend have come to believe in their city once more.
During his first term as mayor, Pete took a leave of absence to deploy to Afghanistan. As a Lieutenant in the Navy, Pete served with Americans from every part of the country, of every ethnicity and faith. He saw firsthand that when you bring Americans from different backgrounds together in common purpose, you can build the strongest fighting force in the world. And that’s exactly what we need now.
From stagnant wages to climate change, from the rise of gun violence and white nationalism, we are facing urgent national crises.
Pete knows the answers won’t come from Washington, but rather to Washington. As a mayor, he knows good politics is based in helping people, not in advancing an ideological agenda. As a veteran, he understands when we bring Americans together we can do anything. And as president, Pete will bring a new kind of politics to Washington -- one that will turn the page on politics of division and rally Americans together behind bold ideas so we can finally solve our greatest problems.
This election will decide who will lead us on the day after the current administration leaves office. We will choose whether we have leadership that offers more of the same endless partisan battles or turns the page. Pete will be a president ready to pick up the pieces of our divided nation, gather up an American majority that is hungry for change, and act to ensure that our future is better than our past.
