Iowa supporter shocked to learn Pete Buttigieg is gay and married to a man, demands her caucus vote back
The campaign team of former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg was in for a shock on Monday, February 3, when a woman voter wanted to withdraw her vote for the Democratic candidate after learning that he was married to a man. The caucusgoer was so shocked by Buttigieg’s sexual orientation that she said she did not want to have somebody like him in the White House.
The 38-year-old Buttigieg has been married to high-school teacher Chasten Glezman since June 2018 after the duo dated for almost three years. The woman from the city of Cresco in Iowa’s Howard County faced Buttigieg’s precinct captain Nikki Heever asking her whether she could take her vote back. She said it was something she had no idea about. Heever, who dealt with the person with a cool head, said she was not sure if they could do that and then engaged with her over a discussion about religion and homophobia.
“Are you saying that he has a same-sex partner? Pete?” the woman asked in disbelief. When Heever replied in the affirmative, she said: “Are you kidding?” and then: "Then I don’t want anybody like that in the White House. So can I have my card back?”
Heever told the woman that it shouldn’t matter who a person is married to and what is important is what that person believes in or stands for. “He’s a human being,” she said. But the woman was unconvinced saying the Bible preaches against homosexuality. To that, Heever told her that people like them were not around when the Bible was written.
It was not sure what the homophobic woman eventually did but the video of her interaction with Buttigieg’s precinct captain went viral.
Buttigieg leads in Iowa as per initial returns
Buttigieg was narrowly leading (26.82 percent) the Democratic presidential fray in Iowa, as per the initial returns, after a massive delay in the publication of the results of the election season’s first major test that was linked to technical snags. The Democratic Party was slammed for messing it up in the very first test of the primary season in the run-up to the November 3 elections.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (25.22 percent) was a close second. Elizabeth Warren (18.37 percent), Joe Biden (15.43 percent) and Amy Klobuchar (12.61 percent) followed next. Seventy-one percent of the precincts reported in the first batches released by the Democratic Party.
It was still not clear when the complete result of the Iowa Caucuses will be published. The candidates, meanwhile, were preparing for the next test, the primary in New Hampshire, scheduled on February 11.