--- title: Welcome Aboard the Pete Buttigieg Iowa Bus Tour description: South Bend's mayor launched the latest phase of his campaign like he launched the first: courting media with an unmatched level of access. canonical: https://time.com/5684227/pete-buttigieg-iowa-bus-tour/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-24T16:27:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T21:28:37.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Four Days. One Candidate. Welcome Aboard the Buttigieg Bus og:description: South Bend's mayor launched the latest phase of his campaign like he launched the first: courting media with an unmatched level of access. og:url: https://time.com/5684227/pete-buttigieg-iowa-bus-tour/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb5fa2bc2e113434/698a035a86f68e5f3a6ed9ef/gettyimages-1176694488.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Goes On Four Day Bus Campaign Swing Through Iowa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Four Days. One Candidate. Welcome Aboard the Buttigieg Bus twitter:description: South Bend's mayor launched the latest phase of his campaign like he launched the first: courting media with an unmatched level of access. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb5fa2bc2e113434/698a035a86f68e5f3a6ed9ef/gettyimages-1176694488.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 08:28 video:published: 2019-05-02 section: politics topics: 2020 Democratic primary, South Bend mayor record, downtown economic revitalization, Black and Hispanic voters, openly gay presidential candidate, marriage and family, coming out, military service, faith, changing minds, diversity in the candidate field genre: profile, news feature tones: personal, reflective, warm, analytical emotions: hope (medium), empathy (medium), humor (low), gratitude (medium) sentiment: positive audience: political news viewers, Democratic primary voters, general news audience, students of US politics people: Pete Buttigieg, Chasten Buttigieg organizations: Studebaker, Chicago Cubs content_suitability: politics [00:00-08:28]; hate [06:32-07:53] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Four Days. One Candidate. Welcome Aboard the Buttigieg Bus > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0d1beeea-0157-410e-9dcb-40eabe02f519&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Pete Buttigieg’s Unlikely, Unprecedented 2020 Campaign [Watch (HLS stream): Pete Buttigieg’s Unlikely, Unprecedented 2020 Campaign](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oawDDm4R.m3u8) (8:28)  _Published 2019-05-02. The New Guy: How Mayor Pete Buttigieg became a surprise contender in the 2020 Democratic primary_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video profiles Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as he campaigns for the presidency. It presents his background, his record as mayor with commentary from a longtime local journalist, and concerns about whether Black and Hispanic residents benefited from the city's economic turnaround. It also covers his marriage to Chasten and his coming-out experience, and ends with remarks on how people change their minds. ## Key points - Pete Buttigieg is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, 37 years old, openly gay, married, an Afghanistan veteran and a devout Christian running for president. (00:18) - Buttigieg says he explains his case for the presidency in terms of what he seeks to do with the office, and calls the 2020 field historically diverse. (01:39) - A journalist who has covered every South Bend mayor since the 1960s says some mayors after the Studebaker demise were caretakers, while Buttigieg came in determined to get things done. (02:48) - Buttigieg changed downtown traffic directions and widened sidewalks to bring more pedestrians downtown, an economic effort he takes credit for. (03:17) - Many in South Bend credit Buttigieg with turning the city around, but there is concern that Black and Hispanic residents have not felt the same benefits. (04:41) - That gap could hurt Buttigieg as he tries to win the Black and Hispanic voters he needs to get the nomination. (04:46) - His marriage to Chasten is described as a political asset, and Chasten has become a social media star for posting pictures of their two dogs. (05:12) - Chasten describes leaving home after coming out as a teenager, sleeping on friends' couches and in his car, before his parents called him home. (06:44) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:18] Visit to the Buttigiegs' home. The reporters tour the couple's house and comment on how it feels like home. - [00:18 to 01:23] Introducing the candidate. Buttigieg is introduced by his background and he reflects on what he would tell a teenage boy wondering how he could belong. - [01:23 to 02:26] Why another white male president?. Buttigieg answers a question about the demand for a woman or a person of color as president. - [02:26 to 04:18] His record as South Bend mayor. A longtime local journalist and others assess his record, including downtown changes and his learning curve. - [04:18 to 05:12] South Bend as the campaign message. Buttigieg frames the city's turnaround as his message, while concerns about Black and Hispanic residents are raised. - [05:12 to 06:32] Marriage to Chasten. Chasten talks about their first date and his social media presence, and the marriage is framed as a political asset. - [06:32 to 07:13] Chasten's coming-out story. Chasten recounts leaving home after coming out and his parents' eventual acceptance. - [07:13 to 08:28] How people change their minds. Buttigieg discusses coming out in the military and rejects a kill-switch mentality in politics. ## Key quotes - [04:18] Pete Buttigieg: "It's because in so many ways, South Bend is our message. This is the story of a city that changed its future, changed its trajectory." - [02:48] Local journalist: "The difference with Pete was that he came in with a different attitude, a determination to get something done, and he managed to do that." - [07:02] Chasten Buttigieg: "I'm very lucky that my parents took that time to ask questions and called me home and I'm so grateful that they sought to understand." - [05:49] Pete Buttigieg: "It has been wonderful watching him take care of his community." - [08:04] Pete Buttigieg: "and now you're dead to me forever. This idea that we just sort people into baskets of good and evil" ## Questions this video answers - Who is Pete Buttigieg? [00:18] - How does Buttigieg respond to calls for a woman or a person of color as president? [01:23] - What did Buttigieg do to revive downtown South Bend? [03:17] - What concerns exist about South Bend's economic turnaround? [04:41] - How did Chasten Buttigieg's coming-out experience unfold? [06:32] - What does Buttigieg say about how people change their minds? [07:13] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-08:28]: Profile of a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, including discussion of diversity in the primary field and voter concerns. - hate [06:32-07:53]: Mentions homophobia in the context of coming out, including a family rift, leaving home, and insulting homophobic humor in the military.  by [Charlotte Alter/Waterloo, Ia.](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter/Waterloo, Ia. Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:28 PM UTCPublished: Sep 24, 2019 4:27 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to reporters on his campaign bus. (Scott Olson--Getty Images) Democratic presidential candidate, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to reporters on his campaign bus. (Scott Olson--Getty Images) Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter/Waterloo, Ia.](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter/Waterloo, Ia. Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:28 PM UTCPublished: Sep 24, 2019 4:27 PM UTC Before he got on the big yellow-and-blue bus that bore his name, Pete Buttigieg ironed his shirt in his hotel room. His tour across Iowa this week comes at the beginning of the school year, and as kids around the country were boarding buses of their own, they must have felt a similar apprehension. As Buttigieg climbed aboard, everybody stared at the new kid as he tried to find the right place to sit. From the beginning, Buttigieg’s rise in the Democratic presidential primary has been rooted in [media exposure.](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/29/lis-smith-buttigieg-2020-president-campaign-manager-226756) So it was fitting that the South Bend, Ind., Mayor launched the latest phase of his campaign the same way he launched the first one: by courting the news media with a level of access unmatched by any other candidate. The four-day, on-the-record bus tour with reporters, modeled off Senator John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express,” demonstrated his campaign’s understanding of a central rule of politics: the press are like hyenas, happiest when fed, and avoiding engagement with them can turn an already adversarial relationship into a hostile one. In a primary that will likely be decided by personality attributes as much as policy preferences, the bus tour was a chance to show the press (and, by extension, the voters) what kind of guy he was. The bus was arranged like a living room, with leather seats and ice buckets filled with beer and lime-flavored spiked seltzer. The lights were surrounded with marbled glass sconces and the sinks were made of frosted glass. In the bathroom, a small bronze sign requested that guests avoid putting “solid waste” in the “commode.” The venue played to Buttigieg’s strengths. Unlike Elizabeth Warren, who loves translating her policies into plain English, or Bernie Sanders, who has given different versions of the same rousing speech since 2016, or former Vice President Joe Biden, who is most at home riffing off old anecdotes, Buttigieg does best in conversation. As the bus hurtled past cornfields and wind turbines, Buttigieg was game and pleasant, answering questions about everything from the [whistleblower complaint](https://time.com/5684330/congress-democrats-trump-whistleblower/) enveloping President Trump to the state of the race (only one in five Iowans have made up their mind, he noted) to the leftward tilt of the party (“most voters want to know that you are a capitalist as well as a progressive”). But on the day TIME joined the tour, the questions were often personal. He talked about his favorite road snacks (pickle bites), whether he and his husband plan to have kids (“Chasten’s ready to be a dad…I’m ready but not as ready as he is”), and what jobs he would do if he doesn’t get elected President of the United States. (One was a truck driver, because on long-haul drives he could “listen to a lot of content” and “learn languages and talk to people.”) He said if Al Gore had won the 2000 election, American politics would have gone on such a different trajectory that he would probably be “happily living as a literary critic at some university” instead of running for President. The conversation became most revealing when Buttigieg—a man raised by English and Linguistics professors—started to offer his own definitions of the terms that have so far shaped the primary. Buttigieg has long been a student of political language: most of his old columns in the Harvard Crimson revolved around the need for Democrats to seize control of the words used to frame political debate. To that end, Buttigieg has sought to sidestep the left vs. center axis used to define the Democratic field, instead insisting on a political framework that is more about the future vs. the past. That’s caused many in the Democratic field to paint him as a centrist, an incrementalist, or a moderate, mostly in contrast to his rivals on the left. Buttigieg rejected each of those labels. “The one I find most problematic actually is centrist,” he says. “It’s actually a very ideological framing. It says you’re about being in the middle. And there are ideological centrists in this race, and I don’t view myself as part of that.” “Incrementalist” isn’t right either, he argued. “What I’m proposing to do with Medicare for All Who Want it, for example, may not be the furthest left idea in the field, but also represents the most profound transformation in American healthcare since the implementation of Medicare.” “Moderate,” he says, “is largely about tone. I’m definitely tonally more moderate. I don’t think waving my arms and hollering is gonna help, because there’s so much of that.” Populism, he says, is the most “slippery term of all,” because “It’s not as easy as finding the backroom where a lot of supervillians are pulling the strings.” This is where Buttigieg is most comfortable: with a rigorous analysis of political terms and their contextual meanings. In fact, he has a different definition of “progressive” than most people. “Progressive’ is a relatively new term in the Democratic Party, used by people who wanted to avoid calling themselves liberal,” he says. While other candidates and activists define “progressive” as a commitment to support a specific set of policies—like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, or student debt relief—Buttigieg embraces a broader definition. “To me, it’s about insisting that we protect people and that we actually advance towards a more equitable society as we go.” “I don’t think anybody gets to own the term,” he adds. “It’s certainly not the case that you have to be for free college for all to be a progressive…we say a policy is more progressive if it favors those on the lower income spectrum. Free college is the opposite of that.” Buttigieg describes himself as a “democratic Capitalist.” But “the label I’m most comfortable wearing,” he says, “is that of a Democrat.” **Correction, Sept. 24** _The original version of this story misstated the number of Iowa voters who have made up their mind about the 2020 election. 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