Biography
Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg (born 19 January 1982), formally addressed as Pete Buttigieg, is a renowned American politician and former military soldier. He presently holds the secretary of transportation for the country.
He attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and graduated from both Harvard College and Oxford University. He served the office intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve from 2009 to 2017, rising to the rank of lieutenant. In 2014, he was called and sent to the War in Afghanistan for seven months.
Pete Buttigieg unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Indiana state treasurer in 2010. He worked on the campaigns of Democrats Jill Long Thompson, Joe Donnelly, and John Kerry before winning the 2011 election for mayor of South Bend.
He revealed his sexual orientation in 2015 while serving as mayor of South Bend. In June 2018, he wed author and teacher Chasten Glezman. Pete Buttigieg decided against running for mayor a third time.
On April 14, 2019, Pete Buttigieg officially began his 2020 US presidential election campaign.
He became one of the first openly gay men to start a presidential campaign for a major party. Despite initially having modest expectations, he significantly increased his profile in the middle of 2019 after participating in several town hall meetings and televised discussions.
Pete Buttigieg finished second in the New Hampshire primary and narrowly prevailed in the Iowa caucuses. He became the first out gay presidential contender to win a presidential primary or caucus by winning Iowa. On March 1, 2020, he announced his withdrawal from the race. The next day, he endorsed Joe Biden.
President-elect Joe Biden selected Pete Buttigieg in December 2020 to serve as Secretary of Transportation. By a vote of 86-13 on February 2, 2021, his nomination was approved, becoming him the first out gay Cabinet secretary in American history. He was appointed at the age of 38, making him the youngest Secretary of Transportation in history as well as the youngest Cabinet member in the Joe Biden administration.
United States Secretary of Transportation
Pete Buttigieg |
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 Pete Buttigieg: History • Bio • Photo |
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| Wiki Facts & About Data | |
| Full Name: | Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg |
| Stage Name: | Pete Buttigieg |
| Born: | 19 January 1982 (age 42 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | South Bend, Indiana, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 1.75 m |
| Parents: | Joseph Buttigieg, Jennifer Anne Montgomery |
| Siblings: | N/A |
| Wife • Husband • Spouse: | Chasten Buttigieg (m. 2018) |
| Girlfriend • Boyfriend • Partner: | N/A |
| Children: | Joseph August Buttigieg, Penelope Rose Buttigieg |
| Occupation: | Politician • Soldier |
| Net Worth: | US$250,000 |
Early Life & Education
Pete Buttigieg was born on January 19, 1982, in South Bend, Indiana, United States. He is the only child of Jennifer Anne Montgomery (mother) and Joseph Buttigieg (father).
He calls his mother, Jennifer Montgomery. While working as a faculty member at New Mexico State University, his parents fell in love and got married. His father immigrated to America after being born in Hamrun, Malta.
The father of Pete Buttigieg began working as an English professor at the nearby University of Notre Dame. For 29 years, his mother also worked as a professor at Notre Dame.
His father, who translated and edited Antonio Gramsci‘s Prison Notebooks, a work by the Marxist philosopher, impacted his decision to major in literature in college.
Education
Pete Buttigieg graduated from St. Joseph High School in South Bend as valedictorian of the class of 2000. He took home the top honour in that year’s Profiles in Courage essay competition held by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
He visited Boston to accept the honour and spoke with Caroline Kennedy and other Kennedy family members.
The honesty and political bravery of Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, one of just two independent members of Congress, were the focus of his winning essay.
The United States Senate Youth Program, an annual scholarship competition sponsored jointly by the U.S. Senate and the Hearst Foundations, selected Pete Buttigieg as one of two student delegates from Indiana in 2000.
Pete Buttigieg attended Harvard University after graduating from St. Joseph High School and studied history and literature there. He was elected president of the Harvard Institute of Politics’ Student Advisory Committee and contributed to the organization’s yearly research of young people’s political beliefs.
He examined how Puritanism affected American foreign policy, as seen in Graham Greene‘s novel The Quiet American for his undergraduate thesis, which was titled The Quiet American’s Errand into the Wilderness. He earned a Phi Beta Kappa membership and graduated from Harvard in 2004 with honours.
Pete Buttigieg received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University. After attending Pembroke College at Oxford, he graduated with first-class honours in philosophy, politics, and economics in 2007.
He co-founded and participated in the Democratic Renaissance Project, an unofficial debate and discussion club of about a dozen Oxford students, and served as editor of the Oxford International Review while he was a student there.
Career
Pete Buttigieg worked as an investigative intern at WMAQ-TV, an NBC News affiliate in Chicago, before receiving his degree. Additionally, he served as Jill Long Thompson‘s intern in 2002 when she ran unsuccessfully for congress.
After graduating from college, he spent several months in Arizona and New Mexico as a policy and research specialist for John Kerry‘s 2004 presidential campaign. He served as the Cohen Group’s conference director from 2004 to 2005. He provided support to Joe Donnelly‘s effective congressional campaign in 2006.
After receiving his degree from Oxford, Pete Buttigieg joined McKinsey & Company in 2007 as a consultant. He focused on energy, retail, economic development, and logistics for three years.
Among his McKinsey clients were the health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the electronics retailer Best Buy, the Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws, two non-profit environmental organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Energy Foundation, as well as several U.S. government organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Department, Defense Department, and Postal Service. In 2008, he took a leave of absence from McKinsey to work as the research director for Jill Long Thompson‘s abortive run for governor of Indiana.
While working for McKinsey, he rarely talks about his trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. To devote all of his attention to his campaign for Indiana state treasurer, Pete Buttigieg left McKinsey in 2010.
Since 2005, Pete Buttigieg has worked on the Truman National Security Project as a fellow specializing in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Through the direct commission officer (DCO) program, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was sworn in as an ensign in naval intelligence in September 2009.
During his tenure as mayor in 2014, he took a seven-month leave to deploy to Afghanistan. Pete Buttigieg was a team member tasked with locating and dismantling terrorist financial networks. He performed some of this work at Bagram Air Base and served as his commander’s armed driver on more than 100 excursions into Kabul.
Because he had to keep an eye out for ambushes and explosive devices on the roadways and ensure the vehicle was secured, Pete Buttigieg has jokingly referred to his duty as an armed driver as “military Uber.”
Pete Buttigieg was also assigned to the Afghan Threat Finance Cell while serving in Afghanistan, a counterterrorism squad that aimed to disrupt the funding of the Taliban insurgency. In 2017, he resigned from the United States Navy Reserve after receiving the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
In 2010, he was the Democratic candidate for Indiana’s state treasurer. He finished second behind Republican incumbent Richard Mourdock with 37.5% of the vote. The majority of Pete Buttigieg‘s campaign was devoted to attacking Richard Mourdock for using state pension funds to purchase junk bonds issued by Chrysler and for later suing Chrysler over its bankruptcy restructuring, which Pete Buttigieg said threatened Indiana employment at Chrysler.
He sought the Democratic nomination for mayor of South Bend in 2011, not long after losing the Indiana State Treasurer race in 2010, which was held in 2010. He highlighted his goal to revitalize South Bend in a PBS Michiana – WNIT broadcast, particularly concerning job creation and education.
Pete Buttigieg ran his campaign on a variety of topics, including attracting foreign investment, boosting police and other safety personnel, and enhancing municipal services.
On May 3, 2011, he defeated his four opponents to win the primary with 7,663 votes. In the general election held in November 2011, he received 10,991 of the 14,883 votes cast or 74% of the vote.
He defeated the candidates from the Republican and Libertarian parties, Norris W. Curry Jr. and Patrick M. Farrell. The youngest in-office mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 citizens at the time, he entered office in January 2012 at the age of 29, making history in South Bend.
Jiha’d Vasquez, a 16-year-old black kid, was discovered hanging from an electricity tower on April 14, 2011, before Pete Buttigieg took office. According to Jiha’d Vasquez‘s mother, Stephanie Jones, several items were missing from his rucksack, which was found on the ground next to his body.
Jiha’d Vasquez‘s death was ruled a suicide by the coroner, Chuck Hurley, who had no medical training. Pete Buttigieg later named Chuck Hurley to be the interim police chief.
Stephanie Jones claims that Pete Buttigieg instructed her to call his office, but she never heard back. Stephanie Jones and Tom Bush, the chairman of the South Bend NAACP Legal Redress Committee, claimed that the incident was a cover-up.
Tom Bush claimed that he believed the Ku Klux Klan may have been involved and that he hoped for a federal investigation but did not expect one because “the only way this will get done is if you’re on a microphone yelling and screaming.”
A reporter in 2019 questioned Pete Buttigieg‘s presidential campaign about the event, but they chose not to respond. Sheriff William Redman stated that he would not consider reopening the case unless additional evidence was presented in 2019. Stephanie Jones and St. Joseph County coroner Mike McGann argued that the case should be reopened in 2019.
Pete Buttigieg demoted police chief Darryl Boykins in 2012 after a federal investigation found that South Bend police had secretly taped the phone calls of many officers.
Additionally, Pete Buttigieg fired the department’s director of communications, who had learned of the recordings but had been ordered by Darryl Boykins to keep recording the line. The police communications director claimed four senior police officers were heard discussing and making racial remarks on the recordings.
Pete Buttigieg claims that shortly after assuming office in 2012 when he chose to request Darryl Boykins‘ resignation, he made his “first big mistake as mayor.” Darryl Boykins asked to be reinstated and was supported by advocates and legal counsel.
Darryl Boykins and the four cops filed lawsuits, which Pete Buttigieg settled out of court for more than US$800,000. Darryl Boykins‘ recordings were illegal under the Federal Wiretap Act, according to a federal judge’s 2015 decision.
Political rivals pushed Pete Buttigieg to release the eight records, but he refused, claiming that the Federal Wiretap Act prevented him from doing so. It wasn’t obvious what laws would be broken by distributing the eighth tape.
Judge Steve Hostetler of the St. Joseph County Superior Court heard a request to release five cassette records. According to Judge Steve Hostetler‘s ruling, the cassette tapes must be sent to the South Bend City Council in May 2021.
While serving as mayor, Pete Buttigieg supported numerous construction and renovation initiatives.
Pete Buttigieg was key in developing a nightly public art laser light show along the St. Joseph River trail in downtown South Bend. The US$700,000 project cost was covered through individual donations. During the city’s 150th anniversary celebrations in May 2015, the “River Lights” exhibit was presented.
In 2013, he led the city’s introduction of a 3-1-1 system. Pete Buttigieg‘s administration oversaw the sale of many city-owned properties. The “Vacant and Abandoned Properties Initiative” was one of Pete Buttigieg‘s most well-known initiatives. The initiative, known locally as “1,000 Properties in 1,000 Days,” aimed to renovate or demolish run-down buildings around South Bend.
Deputy Mayor Mark Neal, the city comptroller of South Bend, presided during his absence from February 2014 until Pete Buttigieg returned to his position as mayor in October 2014.
Pete Buttigieg rose to prominence as a strong opponent of Indiana Senate Bill 101 in 2015 during the debate over the measure, which in its original form was heavily criticized for authorizing discrimination against lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender persons. He came out gay during his re-election campaign to show his support for the LGBTQ community.
In 2014, Pete Buttigieg declared he would run for re-election 2015. Henry Davis Jr., a city councillor from the second district, was defeated by him in the Democratic primary with almost 78 per cent of the vote.
With more than 80% of the vote in November 2015, he was elected to a second term as mayor, defeating Republican Kelly Jones by a margin of 8,515 to 2,074 votes.
Pete Buttigieg helped create a recognized city identification card in 2015 after being reelected by signing an executive order. He suggested the Smart Streets urban development scheme in 2013 to enhance South Bend’s downtown area.
After traffic analyses and open forums, he won a tax increment financing-backed bond issue for the program in the early months of 2015. A comprehensive streets implementation program called Smart Streets was created to enhance urban vitality, economic growth, and traffic safety.
Project components were completed in 2016 and formally concluded in 2017. It was said that the project had sparked private growth in the area.
As part of a new phase of the Vacant and Abandoned Properties Initiative, South Bend collaborated with the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center to offer no-cost legal support to qualified applicants seeking to purchase vacant lots, as well as to work with neighbourhood nonprofits to build or repair homes and provide low-income homeownership assistance using South Bend Housing and Urban Development funds.
Pete Buttigieg put out a plan in 2018 to relocate the South Shore Line station from the airport to the city centre. In terms of infrastructure, he advocated in August 2018 for relocating the city’s South Shore Line station from South Bend International Airport to the downtown area. He set a deadline of 2025 for the city to finish this project.
A new transportation benefits program called Commuters Trust was also introduced in South Bend in 2019. It was developed in association with regional employers and transportation companies like South Bend Transpo and Lyft. The program was made possible through a US$1 million three-year grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge.
Additionally, under Pete Buttigieg, South Bend allocated US$50 million to the city’s parks, many of which had endured decades of neglect.
Honours & Awards
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library presented Pete Buttigieg with the Fenn Award in 2015 in honour of his achievements as mayor. He was selected as one of Queerty’s “Pride50” individuals—”trailblazing personalities who actively assure society remains progressing towards equality, acceptance, and decency for all LGBT people”—to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in June 2019.
Pete Buttigieg received the “Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Leadership and Public Service” at the God’s Love We Deliver Golden Heart Awards in October 2019.
In August 2020, Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg received the Equality Trailblazer Award from the LGBT rights group Equality California. In honour of his ground-breaking campaign for president, he was awarded the 2020 Person of the Year by the British LGBT lifestyle publication Attitude.
Books
- Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future.
- Trust: America’s Best Chance.
Personal Life
Pete Buttigieg and Chasten Buttigieg are married. With his husband, Pete Buttigieg, who serves as the United States Secretary of Transportation, resides in Washington, D.C.
In the summer of 2015, they first connected via the dating app Hinge. While Chasten Buttigieg was attending a graduate school that August, they became together.
They got married on June 16, 2018, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend after getting engaged in December 2017 at O’Hare International Airport. The couple then appeared at the South Bend Gay Pride block party.
Pete Buttigieg revealed on his Twitter account on August 17, 2021, that he and his husband have become parents. On September 4, he shared a picture of the couple holding their son and daughter, who were born twins. He has two children: Joseph August Buttigieg and Penelope Rose Buttigieg.
Net Worth
The American politician Pete Buttigieg has a net worth of US$250,000. His income comes from his political offices.
Social Media
- Instagram: @pete.Buttigieg
- Twitter: @secretarypete
