What Has Pete Buttigieg Been Doing Since the Campaign?

Pete Buttigieg has been viewed as a rising star in the Democratic party and became a nationally recognized figure during the 2020 primary election. After his campaign ended in March, Buttigieg endorsed Joe Biden and has been working to energize voters on Biden’s behalf in the months since then.

Buttigieg was back on the national stage on night four of the Democratic National Convention with a primetime speaking slot. The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s speech included a message of belonging and how he feels a Biden administration would help to restore “the soul of America.”

What all has Buttigieg been up to since dropping out of the primary race? In addition to launching a political PAC to support other Democrats running for office, Buttigieg has written a second book and followed in his parents’ footsteps by accepting a teaching position.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Buttigieg Launched the ‘Win the Era’ PAC Which Has Raised Millions of Dollars for Democratic Candidates

Getty In this screenshot from the DNCC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, delegates from Indiana with former Mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg address the virtual convention on August 18, 2020.

The Pete for America campaign was converted into the “Win the Era” political action committee after Buttigieg dropped out of the primary race. As explained on the organization’s website, the PAC was created to support “a successor generation of leadership, and those who advocate and lift up the issues facing this and subsequent generations with a vision for a better future through real structural reform.”

The PAC endorsed 26 Democrats running for various offices around the country, such as Jaime Harrison, who is challenging Senator Lindsey Graham for his seat on Capitol Hill. The organization also helped to raise more than $2 million for down-ballot candidates. Here is the full list of endorsements:

• Gina Ortiz Jones, US House TX-23
• Michelle De La Isla, US House KS-2
• JA Moore, SC House-15
• Sharice Davids, US House KS-3
• Jaime Harrison, US Senate, SC
• Christine Hunschofsky, FL House-96
• Cal Cunningham, US Senate, NC
• Kate Schroder, US House OH-1
• Josh Shapiro, PA Attorney General
• Levar Stoney, Mayor of Richmond, VA
• Lamont Robinson, IL House-5
• Lauren Underwood, US House IL-14
• Jevin Hodge, Maricopa County AZ Board of Supervisors
• Roy Cooper, NC Governor
• Lucy McBath, US House GA-6
• Anthony Brown, US House MD-4
• Sandra Jauregui, NV House-41
• Annie Kuster, US House NH-2
• Malcolm Kenyatta, PA House-181
• Yvonne Lewis Holley, NC Lieutenant Governor
• Don Beyer, US House VA-8
• Sydney Batch, NC House-37
• Dr. Woody Myers, IN Governor
• Christina Hale, US House IN-5
• Pat Hackett, US House IN-2
• Jonathan Weinzapfel, IN Attorney General

A Win the Era spokesperson confirmed to Heavy that as of this writing, the PAC had helped to raise more than $6.8 million for the Biden campaign.

2. Buttigieg Says He Is Focused on Helping Elect Biden & Is Not Lobbying For a Position Right Now

Buttigieg does not have any immediate plans to run for an elected office, at least none that he is willing to discuss publicly. During an interview with Indianapolis Monthly, Buttigieg was asked whether he had ruled out running for the Senate or to be Indiana’s governor. He responded, “I’m certainly not looking at, or thinking of running for any office right now.”

If Biden were to win in November, Buttigieg could have a job in the administration. When Buttigieg endorsed Biden on March 2, the former vice president offered high praise for the young mayor. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son, Beau,” Biden said. “I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me, it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.”

But Buttigieg says he is not yet thinking about a possible White House job. In the days leading up to his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, Buttigieg repeatedly insisted that he is not actively lobbying Biden for a position. He told the Washington Post that he is solely focused on helping the Democrats retake the White House:

I’m not going to measure drapes for one job or another, because the most important thing–and this is exactly where my head is at–is to make sure that Joe Biden wins and that there is a Biden administration. Once there is, I’ll do everything in my power to support that. And if that’s from within with a return to public service, that’s something I’d love a chance to do. If that’s from the outside in some other capacity, then that’s what I’ll do. But we’ll have plenty of time to think about things like that once we accomplish this mission that has to be the laser focus of every Democrat: that is to defeat Donald Trump, to bring together progressives, moderates, independents, and a lot of Republicans who are ready to make a change, and to make sure that we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, because we get exactly one shot to do this.

3. Buttigieg Has a New Book About Trust Coming Out in October

Since the campaign, Buttigieg completed a second book. His new work is called Trust: America’s Best Chance. It is scheduled for release on October 6.

Publisher Simon & Schuster explained on its website that the book “offers a direct reckoning with the corruption of social responsibility, interweaving history, political philosophy, and affecting passages of memoir, offering a new outlook for how we can confront the next decade’s challenges by building accountability.”

Buttigieg explained in a prepared statement:

In order for our country to move forward in the years ahead, it will be more important than ever to build trust — trust in our institutions and leaders, trust in each other, and trust around the world in America itself. My new book Trust: America’s Best Chance will tackle that monumental challenge and more.

Now is a time to consider the foundational role trust plays in our democracy, and what it will take to build the trust we’ll need to recover and to advance as a country.

Buttigieg’s memoir, Shortest Way Home, was published a few weeks before he formally announced he was running for president. The book sold more than 100,000 copies.

His husband, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, also has a book coming out. Glezman’s memoir I Have Something to Tell You is available on September 1.

4. Buttigieg Is Teaching a Seminar at Notre Dame

GettyPete Buttigieg waves with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, and his mom, Anne Montgomery, after addressing supporters on February 03, 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Buttigieg is the son of two Notre Dame professors. His father, Joseph Buttigieg, taught English for more than 35 years. (The elder Buttigieg passed away in January 2019 after battling cancer). His mother, Jennifer Anne Montgomery, taught in the English, business and arts departments before her retirement.

Buttigieg chose to attend Harvard instead of his hometown university. But he is now following in his parents’ footsteps by agreeing to teach there.

Buttigieg has joined the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study as a faculty fellow. He will teach an undergraduate class about the importance of trust. According to a news release from the school, the “seminar draws on literature, politics, economics and philosophy and students will have the opportunity to engage with other guest experts.”

Buttigieg will also work with other fellows and faculty members on two research projects, “one that explores how to restore trust in political institutions and another that considers the forces distinctively shaping the 2020s.”

5. Buttigieg Quarantined in South Bend Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Getty Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten Glezman Buttigieg

Buttigieg continually traveled while he was running for the Democratic nomination. In addition to all of the campaign stops, Buttigieg was still serving his second term as mayor of South Bend, which meant frequent visits back home as often as possible.

All of that movement came to a screeching halt after the coronavirus hit. In the past few months, Buttigieg has been spending most of his time back home in South Bend with husband Chasten. Their house, a historic two-story property Buttigieg bought in 2009, is around the corner from his mother’s house.

The couple’s dogs, Truman and Buddy, have also been loving the extra attention. Buttigieg joked to the Washington Post, “I don’t know who’s going to break it to the dogs that this arrangement with us being home all the time is not permanent.”

Buttigieg told the New York Times in May that while under quarantine, he played the piano more often, watched more television and practiced his language skills on Rosetta Stone. (Buttigieg is conversational in seven languages other than English). Buttigieg also told the Times, “I’ve probably spent more time in this house in the last two months than I have since I bought it a decade ago. We definitely set an all-time record for the most meals we’ve cooked and eaten at the dining room table, which is great, because for the last year and a half most of my meals were in vehicles.”

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