Pete Buttigieg, the out mayor of South
Bend, Indiana, on Thursday announced his bid for chairman of the
Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Frontrunners for the job are Labor
Secretary Thomas E. Perez and Representative Keith Ellison of
Minnesota, who were deeply involved in the presidential campaigns of
Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, respectively.
“This is not a time to relitigate an
old battle,” Buttigieg,
34, is quoted as saying by The
New York Times. “We've got to transcend the narrative that
this is some kind of proxy fight.”
Democrats are
expected to gather in six weeks to elect their next chairman.
Buttigieg is the
second openly gay candidate for the post behind Ray Buckley, the
chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who threw his hat in
the ring last month. Other candidates include Jaime Harrison, the
South Carolina Democratic chairman, and Sally Boynton Brown, the
executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party.
Buttigieg said
that he relished the opportunity to organize the opposition in the
face of “a pretty monstrous presidency and challenging time out
here in the states.”
Buttigieg said
that he would resign as mayor if elected chairman.