Can Mayor Pete Be a Democratic Front-Runner?

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<p><span>Six months ago, </span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-remnick"><span>David Remnick</span></a><span><span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/pete-buttigieg-plans-win-democratic-presidential-nomination-defeat-trump"><span>interviewed</span></a><span><span> </span>a politician named Pete<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tag/pete-buttigieg"><span>Buttigieg</span></a><span>, who was just beginning his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President. Buttigieg was an unlikely candidate: the youngest person to run in decades, he was a small-town mayor with no national exposure, and had a difficult last name to boot. But a smart campaign has made Buttigieg a contender, and a recent Iowa poll put him in second place, behind Elizabeth Warren. Gay, Christian, and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Buttigieg is running as a kind of centrist outsider. “If you really do want the candidate with most years of Washington experience,” he told Remnick, “you’ve got your choice”—meaning<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tag/joe-biden"><span>Joe Biden</span></a><span>. Furthermore, “if you want the most ideologically, conventionally left candidate you can get, then you’ve got your choice”—between<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tag/elizabeth-warren"><span>Elizabeth Warren</span></a><span><span> </span>and<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tag/bernie-sanders"><span>Bernie Sanders</span></a><span>. But, he claims, “most Democrats I talk to are looking for something else. That’s where I come in.” Buttigieg spoke with Remnick in October, at the New Yorker Festival. They discussed whether he can overcome one notable weakness in his campaign: a lack of support among black voters, which would injure him in the South Carolina primaries.<span> </span></span><span>Plus, the<span> </span></span><em><span>New Yorker<span> </span></span></em><span>food correspondent Helen Rosner shares three current food-world favorites with David Remnick, including an ingenious cheat that blows the lid off of lasagna.</span></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>