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Mayor Pete: Who is Pete Buttigieg, is he Biden's new VP candidate or will he get a cabinet position?

Biden reportedly said on-camera that he has already told Buttigieg that he will have a job in the Biden administration

The race to the US presidential elections is heating up. Apart from who will be the next president, people are also keeping a close eye on who will former vice president Joe Biden choose as his running mate. According to a Time report in March, Biden had stated that he would pick a woman vice president and appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. The report quotes him as saying, "I commit that if I’m elected president and I have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I’ll appoint the first black woman to the court. If I'm elected president, my cabinet and my administration will look like the country, and I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be vice president. There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president."

The Palmer Report on August 10 reported that last week when Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer flew into Delaware to meet Biden, there were discussions if it was for the VP position, but the report suggests it could easily be for a cabinet position as well. However, the same report states that politician Pete Buttigieg also met Biden. So, was it for the running mate's position or a cabinet position? Only time will tell. But in March, The Palmer Report had reported that Biden spoke with CBS Houston reporter Marcelino Benito and said on-camera that he has already told Buttigieg that he will have a job in the Biden administration after Buttigieg had dropped out of the 2020 race.

Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020. He graduated from Harvard College and Oxford University, attending the latter on a Rhodes Scholarship. He was a consultant at the management consulting firm McKinsey. He served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He was mobilized and deployed to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014.

Before running for office, the politician had worked on political campaigns of Democrats Jill Long Thompson, Joe Donnelly and John Kerry. Buttigieg was the 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and during his tenure he earned the nickname ‘Mayor Pete’. He came out as gay in 2015. In April 2019, he had launched his campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election, making him the first openly gay person to launch a major presidential campaign. Even though initially there were low expectations, he did make significant progress by earning the most delegates in Iowa. But he dropped out of the race in March this year and endorsed Biden the following day. 

According to the National Review, the University of Notre Dame announced Buttigieg will be taking a post at the university for the coming academic year. Buttigieg will be a 2020-21 faculty fellow at Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS) and will be a part of a group that is set to focus on the “nature of trust”, as the report suggests. The article also stated that Buttigieg will release a book on the same subject called 'Trust: America’s Best Chance', in October.

Social media was abuzz with discussion about whether or not the former Mayor is a probable VP candidate. A user opined, "Mayor Pete is not under consideration for VP, but I have no doubt he's being offered a cabinet position. I think there will be a cabinet line-up announced soon so we can all imagine how amazing it will be to have competent people running our country again!"

Another concurred, "Mayor Pete won’t be the VP, but he’ll probably get a cabinet position. I’d not be surprised if they announce an entire cabinet slate along with the VP nominee."

One stated, "With this Mayor Pete speculation, it would be a brilliant strategic move to name the whole cabinet (or at least the main positions) as a way to bring in and excite the backers of the other candidates who didn't win."

 A supporter commented, "Since 'Mayor Pete' is trending tonight, here’s your friendly reminder that @PeteButtigieg was the first LGBT+ candidate to win delegates in a major party primary contest. Let’s just reflect on that again. #PeteForAmerica."

One was of the opinon that, "Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar both stepped out of the race so that Joe could advance toward the nomination. It would be nice to see them land prominent roles in the Biden administration."

Another supporter commented, "Mayor Pete was my first pick, and will be again in the future."

According to Politico, Buttigieg has raised more than $6.7M through events, emails and digital ads for the campaign, according to a source familiar with the total, for Biden's campaign.