Pete Buttigieg Goes Behind Enemy Lines For Fox News Interview
On Sunday morning, Pete Buttigieg became the first 2020 Democratic candidate to join Fox News for a Sunday sit-down.
It’s not the first time he’s stood out. If Buttigieg becomes president, he’d be the first millennial to hold the office, the first openly gay president ever elected, the first only child president ever elected and the first president to take office immediately after serving as a mayor. At 37 years old, he’d also become the youngest president in United States history.
Buttigieg joined Fox News host Chris Wallace just a week after the Democratic National Committee announced it would not host any primary debates on Fox News. The DNC’s decision came after Jane Mayer, an investigative reporter with The New Yorker, published a lengthy exposé on the deep connections between the network and President Donald Trump’s White House.
It’s not the first time he’s stood out. If Buttigieg becomes president, he’d be the first millennial to hold the office, the first openly gay president ever elected, the first only child president ever elected and the first president to take office immediately after serving as a mayor. At 37 years old, he’d also become the youngest president in United States history.
Buttigieg joined Fox News host Chris Wallace just a week after the Democratic National Committee announced it would not host any primary debates on Fox News. The DNC’s decision came after Jane Mayer, an investigative reporter with The New Yorker, published a lengthy exposé on the deep connections between the network and President Donald Trump’s White House.
But on Sunday, Buttigieg looked at ease with Wallace as he defended the Green New Deal, his record on crime as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and his idea to nearly double the number of justices on the Supreme Court. When Wallace asked him what political lane he operated in, Buttigieg said he’s been successful with Republican, independent and Democratic voters in South Bend by governing with progressive values and not spending time trying to manage where he fits on the “left-right spectrum.”
“I think more and more people just want to know what your ideas are and whether they make any sense,” he said. “I view myself as a progressive, but these labels are becoming less and less useful.”
Born and raised in South Bend, Buttigieg left Indiana to go to Harvard, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He served in Afghanistan before returning home and starting his political career. Buttigieg was elected mayor at the age of 29 and has kept a relatively low political profile since, with one exception: in 2017, he stepped into the national spotlight for a failed run to chair the DNC.
“I think more and more people just want to know what your ideas are and whether they make any sense,” he said. “I view myself as a progressive, but these labels are becoming less and less useful.”
Born and raised in South Bend, Buttigieg left Indiana to go to Harvard, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He served in Afghanistan before returning home and starting his political career. Buttigieg was elected mayor at the age of 29 and has kept a relatively low political profile since, with one exception: in 2017, he stepped into the national spotlight for a failed run to chair the DNC.
Now, he’s is a rising contender in the crowded Democratic field. Last week, Buttigieg hit the 65,000 donor threshold required to join the first Democratic debate in June. Most of that rise has been tied to how “Mayor Pete,” as his supporters refer to him, is unique among the rest of the Democratic nominees. He’s the only Democratic candidate who currently serves as a mayor, the only member of the LGBTQ community running and — besides Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — the only candidate who served in the military. Buttigieg also likes to note that he’s different from the current administration. As he’s fond of saying, he “has more government experience than the president, more executive experience than the Vice President and more military experience than any president since George H.W. Bush.”
With his campaign technically still in the “exploratory committee” phase, Buttigieg passed up an opportunity to officially announce his 2020 candidacy on Sunday, though he hinted at making it official soon.
"We put together the exploratory committee and rolled it out in January to see what the response would be to the idea of a Midwestern millennial mayor entering the conversation for president," Buttigieg told Wallace. "Would anybody take note? How would the fundraising go? Would there be a level of interest in the early states? Now we're seeing all of those things. But because I'm not highly famous and I'm not personally wealthy, it takes a little bit to get the organization in place for a launch."
"You only get to launch once," he added. "And I've got to tell you, I'm not going to make any news this morning, but all of the signs are pointing in the right direction. And when we do come out, it's a — it's going to be a big one."
With his campaign technically still in the “exploratory committee” phase, Buttigieg passed up an opportunity to officially announce his 2020 candidacy on Sunday, though he hinted at making it official soon.
"We put together the exploratory committee and rolled it out in January to see what the response would be to the idea of a Midwestern millennial mayor entering the conversation for president," Buttigieg told Wallace. "Would anybody take note? How would the fundraising go? Would there be a level of interest in the early states? Now we're seeing all of those things. But because I'm not highly famous and I'm not personally wealthy, it takes a little bit to get the organization in place for a launch."
"You only get to launch once," he added. "And I've got to tell you, I'm not going to make any news this morning, but all of the signs are pointing in the right direction. And when we do come out, it's a — it's going to be a big one."