Mayor Pete & Chasten Buttigieg Are Courting LGBT Voters Like No Other 2020 Candidates Can
WASHINGTON, D.C.—One week before he is expected to formally announce his not-so-long-shot candidacy for the White House, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is leaning into his personal connection to a devoted Democratic constituency for whom politics has always been a fight against the odds: LGBT voters.
As a voting bloc with strong ties to the Democratic Party and with a vast network of well-funded political organizations battle-tested in the nationwide war over same-sex marriage, LGBT voters are a prize target for any Democrat seeking the party’s nomination. But Buttigieg’s historic status as the first out Democratic presidential candidate gives added power to his campaign’s pursuit of LGBT votes and donor dollars. Alongside husband Chasten, the most public-facing political spouse in the field, Buttigieg is courting those supporters in a way no other Democratic candidate can.
“Everybody’s on their own journey—your journey belongs to you,” Buttigieg told reporters after a keynote address at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s national brunch on Sunday afternoon. “But hopefully my journey is an indication that however much you’re struggling, somebody who’s been through a certain kind of that struggle myself has been able to step forward as a credible candidate for the highest office in the land.”
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