50 Pete Buttigieg Quotes From America’s First Openly Gay Presidential Candidate

Pete Buttigieg, affectionately known as “Mayor Pete” by his hometown of South Bend, Indiana, is running as the Democratic nominee in the 2020 Presidential Election.

To learn more about the 2020 hopeful, check out the Pete Buttigieg quotes below. 

Short bio on Pete Buttigieg

As his interest in politics grew in early adulthood, Buttigieg’s first job in politics came as an intern for Democrat Jill Long Thompson in 2002.

After helping the campaigns of politicians John Kerry and Joe Donnelly, Buttigieg joined the Army Reserve as a naval intelligence officer in 2009. 

Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana in 2011, becoming the second-youngest mayor in the city’s history.

In April 2019, he began his 2020 presidential campaign.

If elected, he would be the youngest and first openly gay president in American history. 

Take a look into Mayor Pete’s views on policies, identity, and politics below.

And don’t forget to also read these Andrew Yang quotes from the former 2020 democratic candidate.

If you enjoy this article, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily motivation. 

If you want more motivational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Insightful Pete Buttigieg quotes

1. “We can’t look for greatness in the past.” ― Pete Buttigieg

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2. “The world is changing, but it is not changing on its own.” ― Pete Buttigieg

3. “We’ve got to find a way to use our identities to reach other people.” ― Pete Buttigieg

4. “A message is something that makes sense no matter who you’re running against.” ― Pete Buttigieg

5. “Being gay isn’t something you choose, but you do face choices about whether and how to discuss it.” ― Pete Buttigieg

6. “Our right to practice our faith freely is respected up to the point where doing so involves harming others.” ― Pete Buttigieg

7. “Physically robust infrastructure is not enough if it fails to foster a healthy community; ultimately, all infrastructure is social.” ― Pete Buttigieg

8. “Greatness will come by looking forward – untethered from the politics of the past and anchored by our shared values – and by changing our nation’s future.” ― Pete Buttigieg

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Pete Buttigieg quotes on American society

9. “Building a wall won’t solve our border security challenges.” ― Pete Buttigieg

10. “I believe in capitalism as long as there’s a strong rule of law around it.” ― Pete Buttigieg

11. “I think there’s a lot to be said for changing the balance of what we tax: wealth versus work.” ― Pete Buttigieg

12. “Tearing apart a community, a business, and a family will make America worse off, every time.” ― Pete Buttigieg

13. “Things are changing tectonically in our country, and we can’t just keep doing what we’ve been doing.” ― Pete Buttigieg

14. “It’s time to join the ranks of nations that have put the ugliness of capital punishment behind them.” ― Pete Buttigieg

15. “When people are economically or socially dislocated, they are always more vulnerable to being radicalized.” ― Pete Buttigieg

16. “A Midwestern municipal government isn’t the first thing that leaps to mind when you think of innovation, but it ought to be.” ― Pete Buttigieg

17. “Our neighborhoods are safer when there is trust between communities and the police who are in charge of protecting them.” ― Pete Buttigieg

18. “You’re not free if you can’t marry the person you love because a county clerk is imposing his or her interpretation of religion on you.” ― Pete Buttigieg

19. “I think most Americans understand that we deserve to have universal health care, as enjoyed by most citizens in most developed countries.” ― Pete Buttigieg

20. “You can’t understand America without understanding the Puritans. In many ways, we’re still living out their legacy in ways that are good and bad.” ― Pete Buttigieg

21. “Businesses always have competitors nipping at their heels. Historically, cities have not viewed themselves as subject to that same type of competition. But that’s wrong.” ― Pete Buttigieg

22. “Systemic racism is something that diminishes all of us. Of course its worst effects are for its victims, but our entire country is held back through the inequality and the mistrust that it creates.” ― Pete Buttigieg

23. “I hope that teachings about inclusion and love win out over what I personally consider to be a handful of scriptures that reflect the moral expectations of the era in which they were recorded.” ― Pete Buttigieg

24. “You’re not free if you can’t start a small business because you fear losing your health care, and you’re certainly not free if a male boss or politician prevents you from making decisions about your own reproductive health.” ― Pete Buttigieg

25. “There’s this romantic idea that’s built up around war. But the pragmatic view is there are tons of people of my generation who have lost their lives, lost their marriages, or lost their health as a consequence of being sent to wars which could have been avoided.” ― Pete Buttigieg

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Pete Buttigieg quotes on his identity and upbringing

26. “I’m proud of who I am. I am proud of my husband and our marriage.” ― Pete Buttigieg

27. “I am not skilled enough or energetic enough to craft a persona. I just have to be who I am and hope people like it.” ― Pete Buttigieg

28. “My surname, Buttigieg, is very common in my father’s country of origin, the tiny island of Malta, and nowhere else.” ― Pete Buttigieg

29. “By high school, I had traded my oversized, thick glasses for contact lenses, but my eyesight was getting worse every year, smothering my childhood aspiration of becoming an astronaut or, at least, a pilot.” ― Pete Buttigieg

30. “I kept up top grades, and by senior year, a flow of mailed college recruiting brochures accumulated into an avalanche on our dining room table.” ― Pete Buttigieg

31. “My high school in South Bend had nearly a thousand students. Statistically, that means that several dozen were gay or lesbian. Yet, when I graduated in 2000, I had yet to encounter a single openly LGBT student there.” ― Pete Buttigieg

32. “I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it’s just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am.” ― Pete Buttigieg

33. “If somebody is saying that I should not compete because I’m a man, I don’t know what to say to that. And if somebody is saying that I had it easy, I would invite them to join the military and enter Indiana politics in 2010 as a gay person. See how easy they find it.” ― Pete Buttigieg

34. “When I was fourteen, Mom and Dad sent me to St. Joseph High School, the Catholic school up the hill from our place, housed in a 1950s-era tan brick building sometimes confused for a light industrial structure due to the surprisingly high smokestack of its old incinerator.” ― Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg quotes about politics

35. “The decision to serve needs to be independent of your politics.” ― Pete Buttigieg

36. “I think people in our party tie themselves up in pretzels trying to be more electable.” ― Pete Buttigieg

37. “I’ve never believed in running for office so you can eventually run for some other office.” ― Pete Buttigieg

38. “I am a Democrat because I believe in protecting freedom, fairness, families, and the future.” ― Pete Buttigieg

39. “The Electoral College needs to go, because it’s made our society less and less democratic.” ― Pete Buttigieg

40. “In many ways, Trump appeals to people’s smallness, their fears, whatever part of them wants to look backward.” ― Pete Buttigieg

41. “Donald Trump got elected because, in his twisted way, he pointed out the huge troubles in our economy and our democracy.” ― Donald Trump

42. “So much of politics is about people’s relationships with themselves. You do better if you make people feel secure in who they are.” ― Pete Buttigieg

43. “Those of us who work in politics can only make ourselves useful if our heads are filled with things that we can contribute to the political space.” ― Pete Buttigieg

44. “As the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, I see on a daily basis the impact of politics and policy on my family, neighbors, friends, and residents.” ― Pete Buttigieg

45. “An election is supposed to be about our whole country – we can’t just concentrate on those areas where people, for the most part, already agree with us.” ― Pete Buttigieg

46. “If somebody is pointing out that there are advantages – many of them unfair – that go along with being male in our society and in our politics, then I completely agree.” ― Pete Buttigieg

47. “Presidents going live from the Oval Office have used that platform to inform the American public, and also to do one of the most important parts of their job: to inspire the best in us.” ― Pete Buttigieg

48. “What’s worse: a president who is very faithful to an ideology that you find extreme, or a president who is very cynical and appears to have no ideology at all? Neither one of those things is great.” ― Pete Buttigieg

49. “Wall-to-wall coverage of the political intrigue in Washington focuses on which Capitol Hill players won the daily news cycle, with barely any reference to the communities and lives where politicians” decisions actually hit home.” ― Pete Buttigieg

50. “Like anyone who follows politics, I am sometimes mesmerized by the twisted and relentless drama playing out in Washington. But I also know about the price of distraction – the consequences of our attention being diverted from how politics affects daily life.” ― Pete Buttigieg

How has your generation changed other people’s view of you? 

Born in 1982, Pete Buttigieg is far-and-beyond the youngest politician gunning for the Democratic candidacy.

Although Buttigieg is generations younger candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, his millennial view on American society offers a breath of fresh air to millions of young people who feel like they aren’t represented throughout America’s current government. 

Many will use these generational terms (millennial, baby boomer, etc.) to generalize an entire generation of people, usually negatively.

Don’t let the stereotyping of your generation get in the way of pursuing your goals.

With your age comes experiences and your unique world view is of interest to those both older and younger than you. 

What are your thoughts on these insightful Pete Buttigieg quotes from the politician?

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