Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as Joe Biden’s Secretary of Transportation earlier this month.
- Party: Democratic
- Education: Harvard University (BA), Pembroke College, Oxford (BA)
- Military service: United States Navy, 2009-2017, Lieutenant
- First openly gay Cabinet member in United States history
Pete Buttigieg is a former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer and served as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012-2020.
In 2019, he became the first openly gay person to launch a major presidential campaign, and then later became the first gay person to win a presidential caucus, which he did in Iowa in 2020. He also came a close second in the New Hampshire primary, just slightly behind Bernie Sanders.
President Joe Biden nominated Buttigieg to be his Secretary of Transportation and he was confirmed on February 2 2021, by a vote of 86-13. This makes him the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history. He is also the youngest Cabinet secretary in the Biden administration and the youngest ever Secretary of Transportation. He succeeds Elaine Chao, wife of Mitch McConnell, who is currently the Senate Minority Leader.
Buttigieg served two consecutive terms as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, winning both elections by a wide margin. During his tenure, unemployment and rates of uninsured people fell consistently, and large investments were made in the city’s infrastructure. He promoted a number of development and redevelopment projects, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs. He also helped establish a recognised city identification card, a stepping stone which would help undocumented immigrants carve out a path to citizenship.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Buttigieg described himself as a progressive and a supporter of democratic capitalism, while criticizing crony capitalism. His major positions included abolishing the electoral college, support for a public health insurance option with an individual mandate, labor unions, universal background checks for gun purchases, addressing climate change, helping undocumented immigrants develop pathways to citizenship, and implementing a federal law that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.
After a surprisingly successful campaign, Buttigieg eventually dropped out of the primaries in March and endorsed Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
We think that Biden’s choice for Secretary of Transportation is a good one. While Buttigieg hasn’t done anything major during his tenure in the position just yet, his track record is promising and leads us to believe that he will address several key issues in the transport sector.
Joint Narrative 