Right now, a man named Pete Buttigieg is running to be the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. His victory is in the interest of the party, the nation, and (most importantly) the people.
Let’s review his résumé.
He was the president and valedictorian of his high school graduating class. His commitment to politics goes back to his youth, and this makes him particularly relevant and fitting for a party that will increasingly rely on the civic participation of young people.
He is a graduate of Harvard University, where he studied History and Literature, and Oxford University, where he studied Philosophy, Politics, & Economics as a Rhodes Scholar. This academic prowess makes him a good face of the party of progress and evidences his capacity for intellectual achievement.
A veteran and reservist for the United States Navy, he would be personally affected by the reckless decisions of an unstable commander-in-chief and already knows, at a personal level, the very real and painful costs of war. Only a minority of current members of Congress have served in the military, and this very dissonance may have motivated the slipshod decisions that caused the loss of innocent lives.
The Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he took office as the youngest mayor of any city with a population over 100,000. (Remember: young!) Democrats often focus on the federal and international levels of governance, but Pete Buttigieg’s successful work at the local level shows what good can come from a focused and principled young Democrat.
He’s also a Midwesterner from the same state as the Vice President. One of the biggest indictments of the post-election biopsy has been that Democrats need to speak to everyone more, including the white citizens of the flyover states. Like Senator Sanders, Mayor Buttigieg has proven that he can accomplish this. After all, he won re-election with more than 80% of the electorate behind him.
On Jun. 16, 2015, less than two weeks before the Supreme Court recognized the legal right of same-sex couples to marry, he publicly came out in an essay. In that essay, he wrote:
“I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it’s just a fact of life… But it’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good.”
His experience as a gay man makes him sensitive to the experiences of others. He continued, in that very same essay, to write:
“For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her.”
In other words, he cares.
For all these reasons, he is a compelling and profound leader whose experience and youth are both evident in a notable and beautiful way.
That’s why Jen Psaki, the former Communications Director of the Obama Administration, has called on Democrats to support him, and that’s why I, a fifteen year old Californian, support him with pride.
Buttigieg once wrote that Americans must procure a national community “based not on categories of politics, orientation, background, status or creed, but on our shared knowledge that the greatest thing any of us has to offer is love.”
I couldn’t agree with the mayor more. Come this weekend, I hope that Mayor Pete will become Chairman Pete. At this moment of civic angst and political stupidity, America could really use some love.
