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Home *Pete Buttigieg, *Resist. Protest. Obstruct. Inform., 2020 Elections, Elections, National News, News, Queer NewsMayor Pete Buttigieg To Pull Out of 2020 Presidential Race

Mayor Pete Buttigieg To Pull Out of 2020 Presidential Race

March 1, 2020• byMichael Strangeways

In news that’s not particularly shocking, it’s been leaked that Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend Indiana, will announce he’s pulling out of the 2020 race to seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States sometime Sunday evening, March 1st.

Buttigieg’s 4th place finish in Saturday’s South Carolina primary and projections that he will not win any of the states holding primaries on “Super Tuesday”, March 3rd seemed to seal the fate of his campaign which despite the huge amounts of press coverage and support from many (but not all) in the LGBTQ community couldn’t erase the fact the 38 year old politician faced an uphill battle to collect enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination.

Other contributing factors: lack of much support from other communities, especially Black voters, and not enough revenue to continue campaigning. Millions were raised but much of the war chest accumulated by the Buttigieg campaign was used to capture a win in the first battle, the Iowa caucus and a second place showing in New Hampshire.

Buttigieg’s decision to leave the race follows the departure of billionaire Tom Steyer who shut down his campaign Saturday evening after spending millions of dollars in South Carolina to achieve a respectable 3rd place finish which was still not enough to snag any delegates.

And, now eyes move to the campaigns of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who finished 5th in South Carolina and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota who finished 6th. Neither has a path to the nomination and both are likely to end campaigns in the next few days which leaves the race to three men in their late 70s: front runner Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice-President Joe Biden and billionaire/former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But, it’s the ending of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign that will hit hard for millions of LGBTQ supporters excited by the success of an out gay politician in a national election. While Buttigieg’s cautious and more centrist stance on many issues alienated many LGBTQ progressive/leftist voters, the boyish enthusiasm and nerdish charm of Pete Buttigieg and his marriage to husband Chasten appealed to many others.

Regardless of how you feel about Pete Buttigieg’s politics, his success is an important part of LGBTQ history.

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.

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