Pete Buttigieg says he can beat Donald Trump in 2020

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of this northern Indiana town who, in just a few weeks, had become a stranger to the Democratic Party, officially launched his bid for the presidency on Sunday, posing as a party figure that is well placed to beat President Trump, despite being young and facing many seasoned rivals.

"I recognize the audacity to do this as the mayor of the Midwest and the millennium, but we are living in a moment that forces us all to act," said Buttigieg in front of thousands of supporters, without a jacket, rolled up sleeves . "It's calling a new generation of leaders."

Buttigieg added, "It's time to get out of the politics of the past and move on to something totally different."

The Buttigieg rally took place in a former Studebaker assembly plant, whose closure upset the economy of the region. Since then, the site has become a data center and education pushed by his administration – and at the heart of his technocratic and optimistic discourse, he is ready to help communities still struggling against the effects of globalization.

"Change happens, whether it's ready or not," Buttigieg told the crowd. "A myth is being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and restart it," he extolled his attempts in the city to help the workforce with programs of training and skills.

Some participants came from across the country after being inspired by Buttigieg's message and the historical nature of his campaign as a gay presidential candidate.

For Buttigieg, Sunday's optimistic meeting on a gloomy and snowy afternoon in mid-April was an important political turning point: a reintroduction into a party that is only beginning to pay attention to this mayor with a name difficult to pronounce, but which certainly listens closely in search of a flag bearer.

After a series of animated TV shows and podcasts, more and more crowds in the first election and the publication of a successful memoir, Buttigieg suddenly became a competitor in an overcrowded democratic field, with a $ 7 million round of fundraising in the first quarter of the year and a rapid increase in polls.

Meanwhile, her husband, Chasten, has become a Social Democrats favorite on social media, and Buttigieg has made front-page national magazines, including New York magazine this week, with the title "And Why Not Pete?"

As the rain fell on this city of about 100,000 people on Sunday morning, thousands of people lined up under umbrellas and were bundled up in a jacket, waiting to enter the facility, holding homemade signs and carrying coffee cups and copies of his book, "Shortest Way Home".

One of them was Ashley Pawlowski, 34, a self-proclaimed independent from South Bend who works in a local non-profit organization. "The South Bend we all grew up in was very different. He changed this city and adopted a new attitude, "she said. "He has this ability to help people deep down in his bones."

Buttigieg's Challenge in the Months to Come: Reflecting the Momentum and Democracy Willingness to Encourage a Young, Confident Midwestern Voice to Participate in a Sustained National Campaign That Can Surpass Candidates whose Careers Have Made It Popular activists and donors.

[Sen. Kamala Harris releases tax returns showing nearly $1.9 million in household income in 2018]

Buttigieg worked to erase the heavy veil of implausibility from his recent candidacy, insisting that being mayor of a city in the middle of the country for two terms gives him a greater experience of government that Trump and that he is the face of a new generation. who wants to get around the partisanship and rancor that has taken hold of Trump's Washington.

"My face is my message," Buttigieg often told campaigning voters, a catchall way of referring to a calm personality that allowed for comparisons with President Barack Obama and his own profile. Politics: A Midwestern gay mayor, a retired officer who served in Afghanistan, and a Rhodes researcher who, if elected, would be the youngest president in the history of the United States.

Buttigieg Road will be anything but a slide. While formerly unknown outsiders, such as Jimmy Carter in 1976, won the Democratic nomination, others, with electric starts, saw their offers fade.

Buttigieg sparked the enthusiasm of several major Democrats and Obama allies, such as veteran strategist David Axelrod – and Buttigieg met privately with Obama, who praised him. Other Democrats remain dumb about the mayor.

In recent days, Buttigieg's assessment in South Bend has been reviewed. Some Democrats have criticized his administration's efforts to destroy the city's dark houses as too aggressive a policy to reorganize low-income neighborhoods housing many minority voters. South Bend also continues to attack one-quarter of the city over the poverty line.

Buttigieg's race record also attracted Democrats' criticism, particularly of his demotion to South Bend's first black police chief, Darryl Boykins, in 2012. Buttigieg cited a federal Boykins investigation as the reason for the decision. but Boykins sued. the city for racial discrimination.

Solomon Anderson, a 57-year-old banker from South Bend, said some members of the city's black community were still disturbed by the way Buttigieg handled the incident, even though he and others had encouraged the Mayor's campaign at Sunday's rally.

"Not everyone has finished," said Anderson. "He tried to be a healer, to be inclusive, but it was not always easy."

Axelrod, watching the Buttigieg crowd from afar, said on Twitter that the crowd "seemed very large, very impressive but also very white – an obstacle they will have to overcome."

And Buttigieg's 2015 comment that "All Lives Matter", described as insensitive by those of the Black Lives Matter movement who seeks to solve the problems facing black Americans to law enforcement, He urged this month to reassure his group concerns and stands in solidarity with their cause.

The Buttigieg campaign is aware of the growing importance of its decisions at the City Hall and is determined to present its balance sheet and demonstrate that the management of a city like South Bend allows it to understand the thorny issues that arise national. At Sunday's rally, mayors from other allied states presented introductory speeches, following Buttigieg's work in groups of mayors and unsuccessful candidacy for the position of president of the National Committee. Democrat in 2016.

"The horror show in Washington is fascinating. That's all. But starting today, we will change channels, "said Buttigieg.

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, called Buttigieg "the opposite of Donald Trump." Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, approved it and said that "the world is coming to South Bend".

Buttigieg and his collaborators focused on the themes of generational change and his interest in reaching out to religious voters and working-class voters who turned to Trump as they planned his campaign, convinced that He can make openings for them. the same time.

The energy around Buttigieg was evident this weekend: his campaign headquarters in South Bend were filled with volunteers who passed in front of a wall painted with large letters saying how to pronounce his name: "Boot Edge Edge". Chasten Buttigieg saluted his supporters. and shared a playlist of songs from bands such as Fleetwood Mac and Phish for those who hit the road.