Draft:Pete Buttigieg



Pete Buttigieg, also known as Mayor Pete, is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He ran a failed campaign for the 2020 U.S. presidency on the Democratic ticket. He announced his campaign for President on January 23, 2019, and dropped out on March 1st, 2020. His consolation prize was being made Secretary of Transportation under the Biden administration.

Buttigieg is openly gay and married. He is a Rhodes Scholar, and winner of the 2000 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, for an essay on Bernie Sanders. He was a Navy lieutenant, and Afghanistan War veteran. He is usually seen as a centrist. His campaign was often mocked for its failure to reach black voters, and this ultimately sealed his fate once the primary season got to more diverse states like Nevada and South Carolina despite good showings in the initial few contests.

Views

 * Supports same-sex marriage, being in such a marriage himself. Wants to extend civil-rights legislation to protect the LGBTQ community.
 * Favors transitioning towards a single-payer healthcare system by first providing a public option. Does not support eliminating private health insurance.
 * Considers climate change to be a national security threat, why only military threats can be considered serious is a question left to the reader. Supports the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Wants to subsidize solar panels.
 * Endorses the Green New Deal.
 * Believes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has caused significant job losses in the Midwest. Supports labor unions.
 * Wants to ban guns in schools and the nullification of "stand-your-ground" laws. Supports universal background checks before gun purchases.
 * Supports withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Opposes Trump's plan to pull out of Syria. Considers Iran to be a serious threat to Israel. Only supports military deployment if diplomacy fails.
 * Favors the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, wants to provide undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children with a path to citizenship.
 * Wants to pack the Supreme Court to thirteen Justices.
 * Is in favor of abolishing the Electoral College.
 * Opposes the leaking of government documents by Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, also opposing former President Obama's clemency of Manning's prison sentence.
 * Supports marijuana legalization.
 * Supports a national public service program.