To even the most cursory and conservative of observers, it’s been evident for nearly a year now that Pete Buttigieg is a unique political talent. The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor managed to catapult his quixotic bid for the presidency into a career-creating feat built by rhetorical expertise, intelligence, and, most importantly, empathy.
Alas, the 38-year-old former mayor of the 308th largest city in the country faced an uphill battle from the start. After remarkably closing out the Democratic primary as a top-tier candidate, his campaign has conceded that it’s at his end. Between his support for packing the Supreme Court and legalizing abortion up until the point of birth, there’s no question that Buttigieg was far further to the Left of former President Barack Obama. But Buttigieg was both a capitalist in his policies and, far more importantly, a liberal in his appreciation for both our democratic rules, norms of free speech, and tolerance for dissent that our system requires to function.
So there’s little question why Buttigieg would drop out of the primary even after remarkable showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. He understands that not only does he have no path to securing the nomination prior to the Democratic National Convention, but he also would actively obstruct Joe Biden’s ability to stop Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in crucial Super Tuesday contests. His willingness to drop out of the primary indicates an admirable dedication to the long-term prospects of the Democratic Party, but more instructively, an understanding of the realpolitik that the rest of his contenders must stomach.
As long as every other candidate remains in the race, Sanders, an avowed socialist who’s never met a dictator he hasn’t liked, has a clear path to winning the Democratic nomination and perhaps an even more potent one to getting crushed by President Trump in the Electoral College. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Michael Bloomberg, and his billions all bit into Biden’s primary state support. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has even less of a path to gaining a convention-commendable amount of delegate votes than Bloomberg, stays in the race both at her own political peril and at the risk of mucking up the convention in Milwaukee in an irreconcilable way.
Klobuchar posted a wildly admirable showing, and if she were to bow out either now or after stopping Sanders in her home state of Minnesota, she, like Buttigieg, would likely be on the top of Biden’s Cabinet shortlist. If Bloomberg wants to put his ample amounts of money where his mouth is and actually stop Sanders, he could immediately redirect his funds to the only remaining liberal in the race. And if Warren wants to prove she really is a capitalist to her “bones,” she can get out and let this become the two-person septuagenarian race before she loses her own home state(s) — she’s slated to lose both Massachusetts and Oklahoma.
Buttigieg may be half the age of his now-former competitors, but he’s proven himself more of an adult than senators and a billionaire. The calculus behind the primary is now clear: Only one of two candidates can win the nomination. One is a beloved formed vice president who could clock Trump in former Obama states. The other is a socialist who wants to obliterate the jobs staffing hundreds of thousands of swing-state voters.
Buttigieg backed out for good reason. The question is if anyone else can hold their pride and do the same.
