Pete Buttigieg

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Pete Buttigieg
Image of Pete Buttigieg

Nonpartisan

U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Tenure

2021 - Present

Term ends

2025

Years in position

3

Predecessor
Prior offices
Mayor of South Bend

Education

Bachelor's

Harvard University

Graduate

Pembroke College, Oxford

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy Reserve

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Peter Paul Montgomery "Pete" Buttigieg (b. Jan. 19, 1982, in South Bend, Indiana) is the secretary of transportation in the Biden administration. The Senate confirmed him on February 2, 2021, by a vote of 86-13.[1]

Buttigieg received bachelor's degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. Before his time in political office, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, completing a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2014.[2][3]

Buttigieg served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020.[4] While mayor, Buttigieg ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2017 but withdrew his candidacy before the first round of voting.[5] He ran as a Democratic candidate for president in 2020.[6] During his campaign, Buttigieg said, "I want to be able to look back on these years and say my generation delivered climate solutions, racial equality and an end to endless war."[7] Buttigieg won the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses. He suspended his presidential campaign in March and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden (D).[8][9]

As secretary, Buttigieg oversees the Department of Transportation (DOT). According to Reuters, the Biden administration’s spending on infrastructure has been "a dramatic boost for a Cabinet position that has historically drawn little public attention."[10]

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) passed since Buttigieg became the transportation secretary and included funding for DOT projects. The infrastructure law included funding for repairing and improving roads and bridges, public transportation, railways, and airports.[11] ARPA included funding for public transit and aviation during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

Buttigieg said he believes the United States has historically under-invested in transportation and that the department should focus on maintaining and improving existing infrastructure. Referring to the amount of funding in the infrastructure law, Buttigieg said, "When it comes to roads and bridges, we haven’t invested at this level since the Eisenhower administration, since they built the interstate highway system in the first place.”[13]

Biography

Buttigieg was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1982. He earned a bachelor's degree in history and literature from Harvard University. He also studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.[14][15]

From 2007 to 2010, Buttigieg worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company, specializing in economic development, business, logistics, and energy initiatives for government and private sector clients.[16][17] Before running for public office, Buttigieg worked for the campaigns of presidential candidate John Kerry as a research director in 2004 and Indiana gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson as an advisor in 2008.[14] He became a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2009.

Buttigieg ran for treasurer of Indiana as a Democrat in 2010, losing in the general election to Richard Mourdock (R). The following year, he won the South Bend mayoral election with 74% of the vote. At the age of 29, he was the youngest mayor of a city with more than 100,000 residents.[18] In 2014, he took a leave of absence as mayor and completed a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, earning the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his contributions to counterterrorism.[15] In 2015, during his re-election campaign, Buttigieg came out as gay in a column in a local paper.[19] He was re-elected mayor in 2015 with 80% of the vote.[20]

Buttigieg was a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2017 but withdrew his candidacy before a vote was held. He previously served as president of the Indiana Urban Mayors Caucus and on the boards of directors of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and the Truman National Security Project.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Buttigieg's academic, professional, and political career:

  • 2021-Present: U.S. secretary of transportation
  • 2019-2020: Democratic presidential candidate
  • 2012-2020: Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
  • 2009-2017: Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve
  • 2007-2010: Consultant at McKinsey & Company
  • 2007: Graduated from Pembroke College at Oxford University
  • 2004: Graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude

Nomination for secretary of transportation

See also: Joe Biden presidential administration and Confirmation process for Pete Buttigieg for secretary of transportation
Joe Biden's Cabinet
Candidate: Pete Buttigieg
Position: Secretary of Transportation
ApprovedaAnnounced:December 15, 2020
ApprovedaHearing:January 21, 2021
ApprovedaCommittee:Commerce, Science, and Transportation
ApprovedaReported:Favorable (21-3)
ApprovedaConfirmed:February 2, 2021
ApprovedaVote:86-13

President Joe Biden (D) announced on December 15, 2020, that he had selected Buttigieg as his nominee for secretary of transportation.[21]

Biden said of his nomination, "Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a patriot and a problem-solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation. I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us. Jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate all come together at the DOT, the site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better. I trust Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision — he will bring people together to get big things done.”[22]

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a confirmation hearing for Buttigieg on January 21, 2021. The Senate confirmed him on February 2, 2021, by a vote of 86-13. He is the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet position.[23]

Summary of Senate vote on Pete Buttigieg's nomination for secretary of transportation (February 2, 2021)
Party Votes for Votes against Not voting
Democratic Party Democrats 48 0 0
Republican Party Republicans 36 13 1
Grey.png Independents 2 0 0
Totals 86 13 1


Click on the following table to view the full roll call.

Elections

2020

Presidency

See also: Presidential candidates, 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Biden received 306 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) received 232 electoral votes. In the national popular vote, Biden received 81.2 million votes and Trump received 74.2 million votes.

Buttigieg announced he was running for president on January 23, 2019.[6] He suspended his presidential campaign on March 1, 2020.[8]

Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources about Buttigieg and the 2020 presidential election:

2017

See also: Democratic National Committee chair election, 2017

The more than 400 members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) selected a new chair to succeed interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile in February 2017. Buttigieg announced his candidacy for the position on January 5, 2017.[4]

"I can’t think of something more meaningful than organizing the opposition in the face of what I think will be a pretty monstrous presidency and challenging time out here in the states,” Buttigieg told The New York Times. "Sitting back and waiting for the map and demographics to save us—that’s not going to be enough.”[24]

Buttigieg withdrew his candidacy prior to the first round of voting at the DNC meeting on February 25, 2017. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez was elected DNC chairman on the second round of voting with 235 votes.[5]

2015

Buttigieg won re-election as mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

2011

Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana, in 2011 and assumed office on January 1, 2012. At the age of 29, he was the youngest mayor of a city with more than 100,000 residents in the nation.[16][17][25]

2010

Buttigieg was a Democratic candidate for Indiana treasurer in 2010, but he lost in the general election to former State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R).[25]

Ballot measure activity

The following table details Buttigieg's ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:

Ballot measure support and opposition for Pete Buttigieg
Ballot measure Year Position Status
California Proposition 15, Tax on Commercial and Industrial Properties for Education and Local Government Funding Initiative (2020) 2020 Supported[26]  Defeatedd Defeated
Los Angeles Unified School District, California, Measure EE, Parcel Tax (June 2019) 2019 Supported[27] Defeatedd Defeated

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Pete Buttigieg. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Pete Buttigieg - Google News

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ NBC News, "Senate confirms Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary," February 2, 2021
  2. ↑ New York Times, "When Pete Buttigieg Was One of McKinsey’s 'Whiz Kids'," December 5, 2019
  3. ↑ ABC News, "From intel analyst to a military 'Uber': Inside Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Afghanistan deployment," August 8, 2019
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Politico, "Indiana mayor announces for DNC chair," January 5, 2017
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Politico, "Perez elected DNC chairman," February 25, 2017
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fortune, "Who Is Pete Buttigieg, the Latest Candidate to Join the Democratic Presidential Race for 2020," January 23, 2019
  7. ↑ CNN, "Why should you vote for them? Here's what the candidates said in their final pitch," June 28, 2019
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 FOX6, "Pete Buttigieg ending his race for Democratic presidential nomination," March 1, 2020
  9. ↑ The New York Times, "Buttigieg and Klobuchar Endorse Biden, Aiming to Slow Sanders," March 2, 2020
  10. ↑ Reuters, "U.S. infrastructure bill makes power broker of transportation chief Buttigieg," November 11, 2021
  11. ↑ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Grant Programs," accessed March 28, 2024
  12. ↑ Department of Transportation, "Fact Sheet: U.S. Department of Transportation Details the American Rescue Plan’s Benefits for Transportation," March 17, 2021
  13. ↑ CBS News, "Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the $560 billion investment in America's transportation infrastructure," March 13, 2022
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Vote Smart, "Pete Buttigieg's Biography," accessed July 8, 2019
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named meet
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 City of South Bend, "Mayor Pete Buttigieg," accessed January 10, 2017
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Pete for South Bend, "About Mayor Pete," accessed January 9, 2017
  18. ↑ CNBC, "Meet 37-year-old Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, who thinks he can become the youngest US president ever," April 15, 2019
  19. ↑ Boston.com, "Pete Buttigieg explains why he didn’t come out until nearly his second term as South Bend mayor," April 3, 2019
  20. ↑ WNDU, "South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg wins re-election," November 3, 2015
  21. ↑ Biden-Harris Transition, "President-elect Biden Announces Mayor Pete Buttigieg as Nominee for Secretary of Transportation," December 15, 2020
  22. ↑ 4President, "President-elect Biden Announces Mayor Pete Buttigieg as Nominee for Secretary of Transportation," December 15, 2021
  23. ↑ NBC News, "Senate confirms Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary," February 2, 2021
  24. ↑ The New York Times, "Indiana Mayor Running for D.N.C. Chairman," January 5, 2017
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 The Washington Times, "Indiana mayor jumps into DNC chair race, promising fresh start," January 5, 2017
  26. ↑ Twitter, "Pete Buttigieg," October 4, 2019
  27. ↑ SCPR, "'Mayor Pete' comes to L.A. to back Measure E-E," May 9, 2019

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Preceded by
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