Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg
32nd Mayor of South Bend
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2012
Preceded by	Steve Luecke
Personal details
Born	(1982-01-19) January 19, 1982 South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Harvard University Pembroke College, Oxford
Religion	Episcopalian
Website	Government website Campaign website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Lieutenant
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan

Pete Buttigieg (pronunciation: /ˈbutɪdʒɛɡ/; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician who is the current and 32nd Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.^[1] A member of the Democratic Party, Buttigieg has been serving as mayor since January 1, 2012.

Early life and education

Buttigieg was born in South Bend, Indiana to parents Joseph A. Buttigieg and Jennifer Ann (née Montgomery).^[2] Buttigieg graduated from St. Joseph High School in 2000, where he was president and valedictorian of his senior class.^[3] In his senior year at St. Joseph’s High School, he was honored by Caroline Kennedy and other members of President Kennedy’s family during a May 22, 2000 ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library for his prize-winning essay for the JFK Profiles in Courage Essay Contest. Buttigieg’s winning essay centered on the integrity and political courage demonstrated by U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the nation’s only Independent member of Congress. He attended Harvard College, where he was president of the Harvard Institute of Politics Student Advisory Committee and worked on the Institute's annual study of youth attitudes on politics.^[4][5] Buttigieg was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.^[6] Buttigieg graduated from Harvard in 2004, receiving his Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in History and Literature and writing his thesis on the influence of Puritanism on U.S. Foreign Policy as reflected in the Graham Greene novel The Quiet American.^[7] Buttigieg received a first class honors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 2007 from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.^[8]

After graduating from Harvard, Buttigieg was offered a position to work on Senator John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, where he was a policy and research specialist.^[9] Buttigieg also worked as an intern for Jill Long Thompson's 2002 congressional campaign, and later served as an adviser to her 2008 Gubernatorial campaign.^[10]

Career

Early career

In 2003 Buttigieg began working as an investigative intern at WMAQ-TV, Chicago's NBC news affiliate. From 2004 to 2005 Buttigieg worked in Washington D.C. as conference director for former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen's international strategic consulting firm The Cohen Group. In working for political campaigns, Buttigieg's commentary has appeared on NPR, Boston local television and radio, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. Buttigieg is the co-founder of the Democratic Renaissance Project, a fellow of the Truman National Security Project and worked for McKinsey and Company, a management strategy consulting firm, where he specialized in energy and economic development strategy.^[11][12] He was the Democratic Party candidate in 2010 for State Treasurer of Indiana, where he lost to incumbent Richard Mourdock.^[13]

Mayor of South Bend

The County-City Building in downtown South Bend, which houses the Office of the Mayor.

Buttigieg was elected Mayor of South Bend on November 8, 2011 with 74% of the vote^[14] and took office on Jan. 1 as the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents.^[14][15] Mayor Buttigieg was named mayor of the year for 2013 by GovFresh.com, tying with former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.^[16][17] The Washington Post has called Buttigieg "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of", citing his age, education, and military background.^[14]

Buttigieg has made redevelopment a top priority of his administration. One of the signature programs in his first term has been the Vacant and Abandoned Properties Initiative, known locally as "1,000 Properties in 1,000 Days", which is a project to repair or demolish targeted properties across the city.^[18][19] The city has addressed 991 properties as of August 2015.^[18] The scheduled end date for the program is November 24, 2015.

Buttigieg served for seven months in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the US Navy Reserves, returning to the United States on September 23, 2014.^[20] In his absence, Deputy Mayor Mark Neal, the City Controller for South Bend, served in the role of executive commencing in February 2014. Buttigieg returned to his role as mayor in October 2014.

Buttigieg announced that he would seek a second term on November 18, 2014.^[21] The Democratic Party primary was held on May 5, 2015, and Buttigieg won with 78% of the vote.^[22] On November 3, 2015 Buttigieg was elected to his second term as mayor of South Bend with over 80% of the vote. ^[23]

Buttigieg was named a 2014 Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow.^[24]

Personal life

On June 16, 2015, Buttigieg announced in an essay that he is gay.^[25] He is the first openly gay executive in Indiana.^[26]

References

External links

• South Bend website
• Indianapolis Star, "State roundup, Other key mayoral races"

Mayors of cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in Indiana
Joe Hogsett (Indianapolis) Tom Henry (Fort Wayne) Lloyd Winnecke (Evansville) Pete Buttigieg (South Bend)
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