The case for Pete Buttigieg

What’s the case for a President Mayor Pete?

This video is one of a series in which Vox writers argue the cases for the leading Democratic candidates in the 2020 election. (Vox does not endorse individual candidates.)

If he won the 2020 election, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg would become the youngest US president ever. And at 38 years old, his age puts him in good company with many of the Democrats’ recent successful nominees: Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton.

But as Vox’s Dylan Matthews argues, that’s not Mayor Pete’s only similarity with recent Democratic presidents. Like Obama and Clinton before him, Buttigieg has a way of describing traditionally liberal ideas, like expanded access to health care and higher taxes on the wealthy, in a way that appeals to voters who don’t necessarily identify as liberals.

So: What kind of president would Pete Buttigieg be? What makes him different from the other candidates in the race? And what would his advantage be in a general election against Donald Trump?

[skippy]

A lot of voters: yeah this guy should be my president

Pete: I'm dropping out

[Jenslens]

My political science professor once told my class that some presidential candidates run in elections, then drop out just to get their name out and known by the public so that for the next presidential election, they are more likely to win because of familiarity and prior supporters

[andrew]

“They’re among the youngest presidents ever”
Laughs in Joe Biden

[dnfnbgl]

“A serious contender for the democratic nomination”
*drops out 3 days later*

This video aged terribly.

[WillWatches]

Wish Yang was still in the race so they could’ve done one of these vids for him

[awabqureshi]

0:34 Bernie getting 0 from corrupt billionaires. Nice

[TheZahirNT]

Will be interesting to see how this video series ages...

[wolfstar]

"Riding along with Mark Zuckerberg"

Lol as if that was positive.

[makefutur]

99% of the comments are “well, this aged well”

[mathewspauly]

Vox, it's contradictory when you guys say in Warren's video that she is the only one with a well laid out plan stating her push to take down filibuster and then say here that Buttigieg is the only one campaigning for taking down Filibuster. Please clarify

[mikekim]

Eliminating the filibuster may sound good at face value, but keep in mind that if you have a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate like we did up until 2018, the filibuster is the one thing that saves you from a bunch of bad actors.

It would be much better to overturn Citizens United and get money out of politics so that elected officials represent the interests of the people and not the corporations.

[brad]

Well that case didn't last for very long.

[aungsoe]

He is very smart indeed. Not sure how authentic he is. And its a little obvious that he doesnt know or doesnt feel what people are going through.

[meosh]

Vox: Unlike Bernie Pete doesn't name his enemies, so he has a better chance of winning.
Me: **looking at the current President** Yeah, right!

[tomatolover]

I love how sanders doesn’t even have a bar for “donations from billionaires “ haha

[ArcadeChristian]

0:33 Glad to see Bernie has literally not even one billionaire

[emilysheleski]

Can you do a case against all the candidates I feel like these are really positive

[maxcotton]

I will actually get on a plane and fly to Vox HQ just to iron that shirt

[Tesswrench]

A great series, Vox. Making the election more understandable for people outside the US.

[koopatroopa]

"Pete doesn't name enemies" Because he's taking their money