This story originally appeared on The Advocate.
Pete Buttigieg says “of course” America is ready for a gay president.
“I wouldn't have run for president in the first place if I didn't believe that,” he told Meet The Press host Kristen Welker in an interview aired Sunday.
Buttigieg ran for president in 2020 while serving as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana and became the first gay candidate to win a major party caucus when he came out on top in Iowa. That would be the only state he won that year. But after endorsing Joe Biden, who compared the young Democratic star to his late son Beau, Buttigieg ended up in the Democratic president’s Cabinet as Transportation Secretary.
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When Kamala Harris in 2024 ultimately took over as the Democratic nominee, she considered Buttigieg as a running mate. But she wrote in her memoir, 107 Days, that while the Indiana Democrat was her first choice, the idea of a ticket with a Black woman and a gay man seemed “too big of a risk.” Welker asked Buttigieg specifically about that passage during the Meet the Press Interview.
In response, Buttigieg noted that even in deep red Indiana, he won 80% of the vote in his re-election bid for mayor even after coming out publicly. But he also said as he travels the country now speaking with Americans, with some polls showing him as the leading candidate in a field of Democratic contenders, he has found little objection his sexuality.
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“What's on people's minds isn't about you, your identity as a candidate. It's about them. It’s about their lives,” he said. “Right now, Americans are hurting in [Donald] Trump’s economy. There is an opportunity to change that and the voters that I see, they are turning out in levels I didn't think was possible, coming out hundreds and hundreds at a time because they want to be part of this effort, this conversation, this movement to change the course of our country before it's too late.”
While Buttigieg has hinted he could run for president in 2028, he declined to announce plans right now, citing a critical midterm election cycle in which he wants Democrats to win control of Congress.
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“We are about 50 days away from a critically important midterm,” he said, “one that I believe Democrats are going to win. It’s 2026. We gotta focus on what’s happening right now. That’s what I'm doing. I think by my count, we have been to 35 states since I left the cabinet. I don’t want to do anything that would take the focus off of that.”
