Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, contrasted himself with fellow competitor Beto O’Rourke on Sunday, saying, “I was born to make myself useful.”
The comment was in response to a question from “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace if Buttigieg was “born to run” for president, as O’Rourke, the 46-year-old former Texas representative, recently said about himself.
Buttigieg made clear he was not trying to criticize O’Rourke, but instead aimed to make his own generational case for why he’s prepared to be president, despite his age.
“I’m not combating anybody,” Buttigieg said. “But I do believe that I’m not like the others. I belong to a different generation than most of the others. Mine was the generation that was in high school when school shootings started to be the norm. We’re a generation that’s going to be on the business end of the consequences of climate change. We’re also the generation that’s on track to be the first in American history to make less than our parents if nothing is done to change the trajectory of our economy.”
Buttigieg said he has more executive government experience than President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, as he was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 at 29 years of age. Pence served as governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 before being vice president.
Buttigieg also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve during the war in Afghanistan.
“I know I’m the young face in this conversation, but not only do I have more years of government experience under my belt than the president, but I’ve got more years of executive government experience under my belt than the vice president,” he said. “That’s relevant … It’s a combination of attributes, not to mention the military service that I bring to the table, that is simply different from the others.”
