Pete Buttigieg to Be Named Transportation Secretary
Biden to soon announce nomination of out gay former presidential contest rival
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
Pete Buttigieg, the out gay
former mayor of South
Bend, Indiana, who
waged a well-funded
bid for the Democratic presidential
nomination earlier this year,
will be President-Elect Joe Biden’s
nominee for secretary of Transportation,
the transition team hasconfi
rmed.
Buttigieg, who fi nished neck
and neck with Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders in the fi rst two primary
contests dropped out shortly
after Biden scored a big win in the
South Carolina primary, endorsing
the former vice president ahead
of the Super Tuesday contests on
March 3. Biden’s commanding victories
that day essentially decided
the nomination, with Sanders suspending
his campaign a month
later.
Pete Buttigieg in Dallas on March 2, the evening that he endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.
Buttigieg, a 38-year-old Harvard
graduate who was a Rhodes scholar
at Oxford, attracted enormous
attention during his campaign and
boasted of being one of only two veterans
on the primary debate stage
(the other being Hawaii Congressmember
Tulsi Gabbard), having
REUTERS/ ELIZABETH FRANTZ
served in Afghanistan as a lieutenant
in the Navy Reserve. Though
he surprised many with his strong
showing as the fi rst serious out LGBTQ
presidential candidate, Buttigieg
also faced criticism from some
queer progressives for his centrist
political posture, which included
POLITICS
having retreated from a 2018 endorsement
of Medicare For All to
his position in the primary in favor
of Medicare For All Who Want It.
The Victory Fund, a Washington
based group that works to
elect out LGBTQ candidates, released
a statement praising Buttigieg’s
nomination, the fi rst ever
out queer Cabinet apppointment.
“Pete’s nomination is a new
milestone in a decades-long effort
to ensure LGBTQ people are represented
throughout our government
— and its impact will reverberate
well-beyond the department he
will lead,” said Annise Parker, the
group’s president who previously
served three terms as Houston’s
mayor.
The group has been advocating
for an out LGBTQ Cabinet appointment
as well as one on the
Supreme Court and in key ambassador
posts around the world.
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