After Pete Buttigieg announced that he decided to suspend his campaign for the U.S. presidency weeks ago, I’d seen so much coverage of what that meant for the race, how individuals felt about Pete’s endorsement of Joe Biden and other commentary on Pete’s campaign. I’d also read a lot of articles speaking about Pete’s civility, kindness and decency while running a high-stakes campaign; which politics—and the world—so desperately needs.
I’d also witnessed this kindness and desire to connect with others. I went to one of his events in Minneapolis last May; and after the rally, the man standing next to me began to tell Pete that he was from Norway. In response, Pete immediately started speaking to the man in Norwegian, which Pete said he taught himself in order to read certain novels. Pete also responded to a supporter who gave him a sign language name—a name that does not require him to spell out each letter—and Pete responded to him in sign language. These moments are small and perhaps seem inconsequential, but Pete’s effort to connect with everyone, regardless of language or ability or creed is notable; and it made a world of difference to his campaign. Here are some of Pete’s best words of wisdom thus far; I am sure we will see much more of him in the coming years.
- “An election is supposed to be about our whole country and we can’t just concentrate on those areas where people, for the most part, already agree with us.”
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- “Your politics doesn’t make you a good person. I’m not sure anything makes you an outright good person or bad person — that we’re all capable of doing good or bad things. And if you want to know how much good you can do, and how much hurt you can do, just ask somebody you love.”
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- “We know that if we target inequality in this country, much of which arose not by accident but by deliberate racist policies, and they can perhaps be reversed with intentional anti-racist policies, that we’re benefiting the entire society. We all do better when we all do better, as Senator [Paul] Wellstone said. We need to consider, first of all, that it’s the right thing to do. Secondly, that this is not a favor to somebody, this is a restoration of a theft. And third, that if we get it right, you don’t have to be somebody who is on the wrong side of a racial inequity to be better off for living in a country that did something about it.”
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- “That’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: That if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
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- “We will fight when we must fight, but I will never allow us to get so wrapped up in the fighting that we start to think fighting is the point. The point is what lies on the other side of the fight. The hope of an American experience defined not by exclusion but by belonging.”
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- “I also believe running for office is an act of hope. There is a reason why in newspapers they took hopeful and turned it into a noun and used it as a synonym for candidate, right? . . . I am a presidential hopeful. I think it captures that fact that running for office is an act of hope. And so is volunteering and so is voting. I hope you spread that sense of hope.”
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Regardless of which candidates win or lose in the coming months, Pete’s candidacy as a millennial mayor of a small, rural, Midwestern town was an unconventional and yet deeply impactful one. His calls for unity, kindness and hope brought civility and empathy to politics that presidential campaigns can easily forget in the midst of a high-stakes competition.