Pete Buttigieg Is Running - Updated

photo credit: Joshua Lott/The Washington Post

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has signaled for months that he would try to leap from local to presidential politics, announced Wednesday that he will join the burgeoning cast of Democratic candidates in the 2020 race.

Buttigieg made his plans official in a video and email sent to supporters early Wednesday, before taking part in the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C.

He announced in December that he would not seek a third term as mayor of the Indiana city, a move widely seen as a precursor to a presidential run. He said Wednesday he was setting up an exploratory committee for president, the legal mechanism allowing him to raise and spend money on behalf of his campaign.

Buttigieg suffused his announcement with references to his youth and the generational exception he represents compared to most of the Democratic field. He turned 37 on Saturday, making him the youngest entrant so far in the presidential race.

From the Washington Post, read the article here. And here's the tweet from Pete:

I launched a presidential exploratory committee because it is a season for boldness and it is time to focus on the future. Are you ready to walk away from the politics of the past?

Join the team at https://t.co/Xlqn10brgH. pic.twitter.com/K6aeOeVrO7

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 23, 2019

Pete Buttigieg would appear to be the longest of longshots but from what I've read about him he's an impressive man. Can the mayor of the 301st largest city in America get elected president? Frankly, I'd say that it's not out of the question. Click here and here to read my previous posts about Buttigieg. 

I've moved Pete to the I'm Running list. 

Potential Democratic Candidates, in alphabetical order:

Reminder: Not every name on this list is "viable" as a future nominee or president, or even seriously interested in running, necessarily. It's just a list of every name I've ever seen mentioned, anywhere, as someone who might run in 2020.

1. Stacey Abrams (2018 candidate for Georgia governor) added 1/3/19
2. Joe Biden (Former VP)
3. Michael Bloomberg (Former mayor of New York City)
4. Cory Booker (New Jersey senator)
5. Sherrod Brown (Ohio senator)
6. Jerry Brown (former Governor of California)
7. Steve Bullock (Governor of Montana)
8. Mark Cuban (Businessman, owner of the Dallas Mavericks)
9. Bill de Blasio (Mayor of New York City)
10. Eric Garcetti (Mayor of Los Angeles) 
11. Andrew Gillum (Former mayor of Tallahassee, FL, 2018 candidate for governor) added Dec. 11
12. John Hickenlooper (Governor of Colorado) 
13. Eric Holder (Former Attorney General)
14. Jay Inslee (Governor of Washington)
15. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (Actor) added Nov. 10
16. Tim Kaine (Virginia senator, 2016 VP nominee)
17. Joe Kennedy (Congressman from Massachusetts) added Nov. 10
18. John Kerry (former Secretary of State, 2004 Democratic nominee) added Nov. 10 
19. Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota senator)
20. Mitch Landrieu (Mayor of New Orleans)
21. Terry McAuliffe (Former governor of Virginia)
22. Jeff Merkley (Oregon senator)
23. Seth Moulton (Congressman from Massachusetts) 
24. Chris Murphy (Connecticut senator)
25. Beto O'Rourke (Texas Congressman, ran a close race for a U.S. senate seat from Texas) added Sept. 13
26. Tim Ryan (Congressman from Ohio) added Sept. 8
27. Bernie Sanders (Vermont senator, registered Independent, ran in 2016 primaries)
28. Howard Schultz (Businessman, former CEO of Starbucks)
29. Eric Swalwell (Congressman from California) added Nov. 8
30. Mark Warner (Virginia senator) added Nov. 10
31. Marianne Williamson (Author, teacher, spiritual leader) added Dec. 11
32. Mark Zuckerberg (Businessman, founder of Facebook)

I'm Running: Declared Democratic Candidates, in order of their announcement

1. John Delaney (7/28/17) 
2. Andrew Yang (11/6/17) 
3. Elizabeth Warren (12/31/18)
4. Tulsi Gabbard (1/11/19)
5. Julián Castro (1/12/19)
6. Kirsten Gillibrand (1/16/19)  
7. Kamala Harris (1/21/19)
8. Pete Buttigieg (1/23/19)

I'm Not Running

Oprah Winfrey

Andrew Cuomo
Sheryl Sandberg, added Sept. 8
Jason Kander, added Oct. 17
Robert Iger, added Oct. 22
Michael Avenatti, December 4, 2018
Deval Patrick, December 5, 2018
Martin O'Malley, January 3, 2019
Luis Gutierrez, added January 7, 2019
Tom Steyer, January 9, 2019
Bob Casey, January 19, 2019

Days until Election Day: 649

Update. Almost five years ago, on March 10, 2014, The Washington Post published an article titled The most interesting mayor you've never heard of:  

Mayor Pete Buttigieg had to balance a tricky set of themes in his State of the City speech on February 12. Not only did he have to lay out his agenda for the upcoming year, he also had to address the fact he wouldn’t be in South Bend for most of it. “With the minor exception of some home improvement projects waiting for me at my house," he said, "nothing underway in this City will stop or pause during the next seven months, and I know I will return home to an improved administration and an even stronger community.”

Two weeks later, he handed the city off to newly appointed Deputy Mayor Mark Neal, who would watch over the Indiana city of 101,000 while Buttigieg was serving in Afghanistan. Buttigieg is currently training in Chicago, readying to deploy as an "individual augmentee," or a unit of one, doing intelligence work with the Navy Reserves.

...He was valedictorian and class president of his graduating class at St. Joseph's High School in South Bend. That year, he also won the national John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest, which he wrote about Bernie Sanders. At Harvard, where he graduated in 2004, Buttigieg was active with the College Democrats and president of the Institute of Politics Student Advisory Committee. In 2005, he headed to Oxford University to study politics, philosophy and economics as a Rhodes Scholar. He worked on congressional campaigns in Indiana, Arizona, and New Mexico, and John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. In 2009, he ran for Indiana state treasurer, losing to future failed Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, before handily winning a crowded Democratic mayoral primary in 2011. (Read the entire article here.) 

Buttigieg was subsequently reelected for a second term as mayor and is now running for president. If you can't tell, I'm intrigued; check out Buttigieg's website here.

Update #2 on January 25. Former West Virginia state senator Richard Ojeda has dropped out of the race, making him the first name on my newly created "I'm Not Running Anymore" list. Read more here. 

I'm Not Running Anymore: Declared candidates who have dropped out 

Richard Ojeda (1/25/19)

Days until Election Day: 647