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Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee

Pete Buttigieg, who previously served in Afghanistan, was first elected mayor of Indiana's fourth-largest city in 2011.
Posted at 11:31 AM, Jan 23, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-23 11:31:10-05

Another Democrat is throwing his hat into the 2020 presidential race: the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Pete Buttigieg announced Wednesday morning that he's forming an exploratory committee to run for president.

Buttigieg, who previously served in Afghanistan, was first elected mayor of Indiana's fourth-largest city in 2011. He was 29 years old at the time, making him the youngest mayor of a city with at least 100,000 residents. Since then he's run for chair of the Democratic National Committee.

If Buttigieg were to secure his party's nomination, he'd be the first openly-gay presidential nominee from a major political party.

But multiple outlets have pointed out that Buttigieg's chances of securing the Democratic nomination are a long-shot, especially in a growing field of candidates who have more name recognition, like Sens. Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.