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---
description: As Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters off a back porch in Marshalltown, Iowa, the Devil was whispering his name. “Pete,” the Devil hissed into a microphone....
title: Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Unlikely, Untested, Unprecedented Presidential Campaign
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta392b8c18da0ccf4/6989494fb21a9c6f385008b1/pete_buttigieg_time._01jpg.jpg?branch=production&amp;width=3840&amp;quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;crop=16:9
---

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# Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Unlikely, Untested, Unprecedented Presidential Campaign (2 May 2019)


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[TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


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May 2, 2019 10:26 AM CUT

![Mayor Peter Buttigieg photographed at home in South Bend, Ind.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta392b8c18da0ccf4/6989494fb21a9c6f385008b1/pete_buttigieg_time._01jpg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Mayor Peter Buttigieg photographed at home in South Bend, Ind.

Mayor Peter Buttigieg photographed at home in South Bend, Ind.Ryan Pfluger for TIME

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[TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


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May 2, 2019 10:26 AM CUT

As Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters off a back porch in Marshalltown, Iowa, the Devil was whispering his name. “Pete,” the Devil hissed into a microphone. “You’re sooo smart, Pete.”

Buttigieg ignored the heckler, plowing forward with his stump speech about American decency as his husband ­Chasten looked on. “Pete,” the Devil whispered. “I want the heartland, Pete.”

The man in the devil costume was Randall Terry, an antiabortion activist. He had traveled to Iowa to torment the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., the early breakout star of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. “There’s never been a poster boy for homo­sexuals” before, Terry says. “There’s never been a homosexual that you’d go, ‘Wow, I’d be proud of him.’ He’s the guy. That’s why he’s such a threat.”

[Read the full TIME cover story here.](http://time.com/longform/pete-buttigieg-2020/ "undefined")

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