MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Pete Buttigieg made history in April last year when he announced what seemed like an unlikely White House bid as the first openly gay presidential candidate.
After edging out Bernie Sanders in Iowa and coming a close second to the Vermont senator in New Hampshire, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s campaign has lost its “long shot” qualifier. But voters from across the nation are still quietly voicing concern over whether the country is ready for its first out commander in chief.
Erin Perry, 39, was between Buttigieg, 38, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, before this week’s New Hampshire primary when the Washington Examiner met her at a rally in Hudson for former Vice President Joe Biden, 77. Originally from the South, Perry, a school counselor, was honest about the effect Buttigieg’s sexual orientation may have on his prospects in the 2020 Democratic primary as well as a hypothetical general election matchup against President Trump, 73.
“One hundred percent, it’s going to matter. It doesn’t give me pause, it completely gives my husband pause, though. We both vote Democrat, but he feels that there’s no way he can win a general because he’s homosexual. But he also thought Obama couldn’t win because he was black,” the Brookline, New Hampshire, resident said.
She added: “He wouldn’t not vote for him because of it, but it just makes him worry that he’s not electable in a general because of that. And I don’t necessarily disagree, but to me, that’s not a reason not to vote for somebody.”
At the same event, Alexandra Argasinski, 57, explained she was overlooking Buttigieg in favor of Biden because she believed the mayor was “too young and too inexperienced.”
“To me, it doesn’t matter, but to other voters, I think it will, particularly to evangelical Christians. That is just my feeling,” said the Windham, New Hampshire, physician.
Buttigieg came out as gay at the age of 33 in an opinion piece published in the South Bend Tribune ahead of his reelection as mayor, having first been elected to the position at the age of 29. The Harvard University graduate and former Rhodes scholar went on to win a second term with 80% of the vote and married his husband Chasten Buttigieg, 30, in 2018.
Although it’s not a centerpiece of his candidacy, Buttigieg hasn’t been shy about discussing his private life in public. On the campaign trail, the Afghanistan War veteran emphasizes the importance of “belonging” and his faith. When asked about his sexuality by voters, often in the context of how he would confront President Trump, he frequently jokes that, as a gay man who grew up in conservative Indiana, he’s already heard every insult the White House incumbent and the rest of the Republican Party could possibly lob at him. He also reminds them of his electoral record in South Bend.
The heckling by fringe anti-gay protesters at the start of his bid has been, at times, echoed by Democratic Party establishment figures, most notably House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. The kingmaker in South Carolina confessed last November it was “a generational issue” when asked whether Buttigieg’s sexual orientation exacerbated his struggles to gain support from the African American community in the first-in-the-South state, specifically older black voters, findings additionally made by a small internal focus group.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you otherwise. Because I think everybody knows that is an issue,” Clyburn said, noting his grandson was working on Buttigieg’s team ahead of the South Carolina primary on Feb. 29.
While Democrats have largely embraced the Buttigiegs, with Chasten Buttigieg becoming a national figure in his own right, the former South Bend mayor was criticized for comparing his experience as a gay man to the civil rights struggle of African Americans. LGBT Democrats have also maintained that just because he’s gay doesn’t automatically mean he has their support.
Ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, Buttigieg thanked voters in the state for leading the way on marriage equality in 2009 by becoming the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. The issue, however, was revisited last week following a viral video in which a committed caucusgoer asked for her preference card back after learning of his sexual orientation.
“Are you kidding? Well then, I don’t want anybody like that in the White House! So, can I have my card back?” the woman can be heard asking.
Then this week, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested Buttigieg’s sexuality would be a liability against Trump.
“A gay guy, 37 years old, loves kissing his husband on debate stages. Can you see Trump have fun with that?” Limbaugh speculated.
Looking ahead to Super Tuesday, Buttigieg’s campaign has hinted it will specifically target California, Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, and Virginia, with trips already on the books as the team juggles the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22 and the South Carolina primary later this month.
A six-figure ad buy will also be aimed at Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia, the Buttigieg camp announced this week. That plan deprioritizes Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont, though Massachusetts and Vermont are home to rivals Sanders and Warren.
With limited time and resources, conceding some of the Southern states is probably for the best, according to Jan Pietraszek, 55, of Falls River, Massachusetts.
“I don’t know if all of the nation is ready for a gay president. Some parts of this country don’t tolerate that. It’s going to work against him and his age too. He is fairly young, and he doesn’t have the Washington experience,” the sales representative said before a Biden event in Manchester, New Hampshire. “They may be Democrats, but that stuff doesn’t go well in their culture.”
Shannon Conner, 34, of Monterey, California, agreed to an extent but added there were other lingering barriers some other competitors in the field were likely to face from the electorate.
“Not to minimize the impact or the importance of that, it could factor in, but I think being a woman, I mean women who are running are still facing stereotypes even though we had Hillary Clinton,” the insurance professional said at the same Biden rally.
