The 34-year-old mayor of a small city in the Midwest said Thursday he is running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., lacks the national exposure that other candidates vying for the job have but says his experiences working in local politics makes him the best pick in the election, which is tentatively scheduled for next month.
“I’m running because it’s time for new leadership to deliver a fresh start for our party,” Buttigieg wrote in a press release. “The solutions we need to rebuild our party won’t originate in Washington — they will begin in our communities across America’s states and territories.”
Buttigieg declared the future of the DNC will have a profound impact on towns like South Bend, a city of 100,000 people that is located in north-central Indiana.
“This is personal for me. I didn’t just see Afghanistan on the news — I lived it, driving and guarding vehicles on the wire. I could be ordered back to war by a reckless president,” Buttigieg said in a campaign video, referring to President-elect Trump.
The mayor said if elected, he would focus the Democratic Party on dissolving “dishonest banking practices” and “politically motivated restrictions on women’s healthcare.”
The newest candidate joins a handful of Democrats already fighting to replace former chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, in the late February election. The congresswoman resigned in July after leaked emails revealed she had colluded with Hillary Clinton’s campaign during her primary with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. CNN contributor Donna Brazile stepped on as interim chair, but said she would not run for a full term.
As for the others running, on Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf, D-Pa., endorsed outgoing Labor Secretary Tom Perez for chairman. Democratic Sens. Sanders, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada and Chuck Schumer of New York have all endorsed Michigan Rep. Keith Ellison for the post.
“I welcome Pete Buttigieg to the race for DNC Chair. We need more young and energetic elected officials in our party. Pete showed tremendous courage during his re-election campaign when he came out — no easy thing to do in a red state like Indiana in the middle of an election,” Ellison said in a statement. “I look forward to discussing the future of our party with him in this race.”
The winner of the election will need at least 224 votes of the total 447 DNC members.
