South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a breakout star of the 2020 campaign, formally launched his presidential bid on Sunday with a criticism of President Donald Trump's vision for the future of America.
'My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete. I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana. And I am running for President of the United States,' he announced to a roaring crowd in his home town.
Buttigieg, in his announcement address, tied his presidential bid to the recovery of South Bend, a touting of his 10 years as mayor of the city.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a breakout star of the 2020 campaign, formally launched his presidential bid
Buttigieg would be the first openly gay man elected president
He gave his remarks in Studebaker Building 84, a building that closed during the economic down turn in 1963, and used the symbolism of its regrowth heavily in his remarks.
'I ran for mayor in 2011 knowing that nothing like Studebaker would ever come back - but believing that we would, our city would, if we had the courage to reimagine our future. And now, I can confidently say that South Bend is back,' he said.
'And that’s why I’m here today. To tell a different story than “Make America Great Again.” Because there is a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back,' he said.
'It comes from people who think the only way to reach communities like ours is through resentment and nostalgia, selling an impossible promise of returning to a bygone era that was never as great as advertised to begin with. The problem is, they’re telling us to look for greatness in all the wrong places,' he added.
'Because if there is one thing the city of South Bend has shown, it’s that there is no such thing as an honest politics that revolves around the word “again.” It’s time to walk away from the politics of the past, and toward something totally different. So that’s why I’m here today, joining you to make a little news,' he said as the crowd roared.
The old Studebaker auto plant underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation led by a private developer with help from state grants and financing from South Bend. The newly remodeled structure is now part of a mixed-use technology center outside the city's downtown. It was filled to capacity at Buttigieg's remarks.
Supporters shouted 'Pete' and 'Buttigieg' during his remarks. They waved green 'Pete 2020' signs and yellow 'Boot-Edge-Edge' signs, which showed how to pronounce the mayor's last name.
Supporters wait for Mayor Pete Buttigieg's remarks
Several supporters wore Pete t-shirts
Buttigieg slammed the 'horror show' in Washington politics today
Buttigieg's remarks were a combination of hope for the future with one-liners decrying the current state of American politics.
He slammed the 'horror show' in Washington politics today.
'The horror show in Washington is mesmerizing, all-consuming. But starting today, we are going to change the channel,' he said.
He acknowledged his young age and lack of national political credentials in the crowded Democratic field of 18 contenders.
'I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor. More than a little bold - at age 37 - to seek the highest office in the land,' he said.
But, he argued, it's time for a change.
'If America today feels like a confusing place to be, it’s because we’re on one of those blank pages in between chapters. Change is coming, ready or not. The question of our time is whether families and workers will be defeated by the changes beneath us or whether we will master them and make them work toward a better everyday life for us all,' he said.
'Such a moment calls for hopeful and audacious voices from communities like ours,' he added.
Buttigieg, 37, would also be the youngest elected president
He shook hands with supporters after his addess
A Buttigieg supporter wears a decorated hat
He argued that freedom means the right to health care, consumer protection, cyber security, racial security, and freedom to marry.
'The chance to live a life of your choosing, in keeping with your values: that is freedom in its richest sense,' he said.
He slammed several Trump policies, including climate change and the president's call to build a border wall against illegal immigrants.
'We are here to say there's a lot more to security than putting up a wall from sea to shining sea,' he said. 'And to those in charge of our border policy, I want to make this clear: the greatest nation in the world should have nothing to fear from children fleeing violence.'
He also called for the end of the electoral college, a call that has gained steamed after Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 but lost the electoral college vote to Trump.
'We can’t say it’s much of a democracy when twice in my lifetime, the Electoral College has overruled the American people,' he said referring to the 2016 and 2000 presidential elections.
'So let’s make it easier to register and to vote; let’s make our districts fairer, our courts less political, our structures more inclusive; and yes let’s pick our president by counting up all the ballots and giving it to the woman or man who got the most votes!,' he said.
Buttigieg thanked his husband Chasten Buttigieg and his family for their support.
'Thanks to my Mom who is here physically and my Dad who is here in more way than he could have imagined. And Chasten, my love, ... for giving me the strength to do this and the grounding to be myself as we go,' Buttigieg, whose father died in January.
He made several references to his husband and his marriage in his remarks. Chasten Buttigieg, a school teacher, has become a social media star in his own right as he has campaigned across the country with his husband.
The two men embraced after Buttigieg's announcement and then greeted supporters together.
'Our marriage exists by the grace of a single vote on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nine men and women sat down in a room and took a vote and they brought me the most important freedom in my life,' Pete Buttigieg said.
'Politics matters because it hits home. It hits home at our most vulnerable moments,' he said.
South Bend's Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg embrace after his presidential announcement
Both Buttigiegs' have become national stars and embraced by young Democrats around the country
He said if he could go back in time he would reassure his teenage self he would be okay.
He said he'd 'tell him he’ll be all right. More than all right. To tell him that one rainy April day, before he even turns forty, he’ll wake up to headlines about whether he’s rising too quickly as he becomes a top-tier contender for the American presidency. And to tell him that on that day he announces his campaign for president, he’ll do it with his husband looking on.'
He added: 'How can you live that story and not believe that America deserves our optimism, deserves our courage, deserves our hope.'
He told the roaring crowd: 'If you and I rise together to meet this moment, one day they will write histories, not just about one campaign or one presidency but about the era that began here today in this building where past, present, and future meet, right here this chilly day in South Bend.'
The 37-year-old Rhodes Scholar and Afghanistan War veteran made the announcement in the town of roughly 100,000 where he grew up.
Before he spoke to supporters in Studebaker Building 84, he addressed the overflow crowd outside in the rain, unable to get into the packed area.
Buttigieg was introduced by Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, Texas. And he had two other mayors speak in the runup to his remarks. But Adler's presence was notable given Texas has two of its own running for president in the crowded field of 18 contenders: Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro.
Buttigieg will campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire this week
Buttigieg stock rose as a candidate with his attacks on President Trump
He will return this week to Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold the nation's first nominating contests, to campaign as a full-fledged candidate.
His national attention grew with his willingness to take on President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence (who was governor of Indiana while Buttigieg was mayor), and their administration.
A town hall meeting at South by Southwest in March - where he called out Pence, an evangelic Christian, for serving in the 'porn star presidency' - pushed him into the national spotlight.
It's not the first time he was tough on Trump administration.
When Buttigieg ran for Democratic National Committee chairman in 2017, he called Trump a 'draft-dodging chickenhawk.'
'I'll be damned if we're going to have a draft-dodging chickenhawk president of the United States - who thinks he's too smart to read his own intelligence briefings - ordering the people I served with back into another conflict because he can't be bothered to do his job properly,' he said at a forum in Baltimore.
He has shot up to third space in many of the polls, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
His campaign has raised more than $7 million in the first three months of this year - more than Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker.
Buttigieg would be the first openly gay nominee of a major presidential party; he married his husband, Chasten, last year.
Buttigieg and Chasten Buttigieg have become social media stars and embraced by Democrats - particularly the younger crowd - as they hit the campaign trial.
'I really don't mind sharing him on the trail because I'm really enjoying watching people fall in love with him,' Chasten Buttigieg told DailyMail.com at a fundraiser for his husband in Washington D.C. earlier this month.
The mayor - known as Mayor Pete due to the difficulty people have in pronouncing his last name - got into a heated back and forth with Pence last week over his sexuality and the vice president's faith.
Buttigieg said earlier this month that if the vice president is mad at people for being gay, it's God he should actually be angry at.
'If me being gay was a choice it was a choice made far, far above my pay grade,' he told the LGBTQ Victory Fund event in Washington D.C.
'And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,' he added.
Pence shot back, saying the mayor 'knows better' than to criticize his faith and charging him with trying to win points with progressives.
'He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me,' Pence, who has a long history of opposing gay rights, told CNBC.
Pence argued Buttigieg was trying to rally the liberal left to his side in the crowded field for the Democratic presidential nomination with his criticism.
'But I get it. You know, it's look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that's sliding off to the left. And they're all competing with one another for how much more liberal they can be,' Pence said.
Buttigieg, a graduate of Harvard, speaks seven foreign languages - Norwegian, Arabic, Spanish, Maltese, Dari, French, and Italian. He has two rescue dogs with his husband and plays the piano.
He would be the first mayor to go directly to the White House.
And he would be the youngest person to become president, turning 39 the day before the next inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2021.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (right) and his husband Chasten Buttigieg (left) got married last year
Buttigieg became a breakout star at a town hall meeting at South by Southwest in March
Buttigieg came out as gay during his June 2015 mayoral re-election campaign, which he went on to win with 78 percent of the vote.
Earlier this month, he dove into more personal terms about what being gay and his marriage to Chasten, a school teacher, means to him.
'When I was younger I would do anything to not be gay,' he told the crowd at the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political PAC dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT public officials in the U.S.
'If you had offered me a pill to make me straight I would have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water,' he said, adding 'It's a hard thing to think about now.'
'It's hard to face the truth there were times in my life when you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me gay I would have cut it out with a knife,' he noted.
But he said out of the pain of those early years became joy in the form of his marriage.
'The best thing in my life - my marriage – might not never have happened at all,' he said.
'My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and, yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God,' he added.
Buttigieg was raised Catholic but has become a devout Episcopalian.
WHO ARE ALL THE 18 DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 2020?
CORY BOOKER
Age on Inauguration Day: 51
Entered race: February 1, 2019
Career: Currently New Jersey senator. High school football star who went to Stanford or undergraduate and masters degrees before studying in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and Yale Law School. Worked for advocacy and youth projects and successfully ran for Newark, New Jersey, city council in 1998. Narrowly lost mayoral election in 2002 facing claims he was 'suburban' and 'not black enough.' Ran again in 2006 and won landslide on radical reform platform for troubled city, including being tough on crime, cutting budget deficit, increasing affordable housing and tackling failing schools - controversially taking a huge donation from Mark Zuckerberg for the city. Ran for New Jersey senate seat in 2013 special election and won; won full term in 2014
Family: Unmarried but dating actress Rosario Dawson. Parents Cary and Carolyn were among IBM's first black executives. Brother Cary Jr. is education adviser to New Jersey's Democratic governor. If he does not marry he would be first president to enter office single since Grover Cleveland in 1885
Religion: Baptist
Views on key issues: Self-proclaimed liberal. Endorses abortion rights; affirmative action; single-payer health care; criminal justice reform; path to citizenship for 'dreamers; federal marijuana decriminalization; $15 minimum wage; but has also spoken against tech regulation and for long-term deficit reduction
Slogan: To be announced
PETE BUTTIGIEG
Age on Inauguration Day: 39
Entered race: Announced formation of exploratory committee January 23, 2019
Career: Currently mayor of Sound Bend, Indiana. Harvard grad and Rhodes scholar who got a second degree from Oxford before working as a McKinsey management consultant and being commissioned as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer. Elected South Bend mayor in 2011 and served in combat in 2013, won re-election in 2015
Family: Came out as gay during second mayoral run and married husband Chasten Glezman, a middle school teacher in 2018. Parents were University of Notre Dame academics. Surname is pronounced BOOT-edge-edge. Would be first openly gay president, youngest-ever president and first combat veteran since George H.W. Bush
Religion: Episcopalian
Views on key issues: Has said Democratic party needs a 'fresh start'; wrote an essay in praise of Bernie Sanders aged 17; backed paid parental leave for city employees; other policies unknown
Slogan: To be announced
JULIAN CASTRO
Age on Inauguration Day: 46
Entered race: January 12, 2018, at rally in his native San Antonio, TX. Had formed exploratory committee two months previously
Career: No current job. Stanford and Harvard graduate who was a San Antonio, Texas, councilman at 26 and became mayor of the city in 2009. Was Obama's Housing and Urban Development secretary from 2014 to 2016
Family: Married with nine-year-old daughter, Carina, and four-year-old son, Cristian. His identical twin Joaquin, who is a minute younger, is Democratic congressman. Mother Maria del Rosario Castro was part of 'radical' third party for Mexican-Americans; father left his wife and five children for her but they never married. Would be first Hispanic-American president - announced his run in English and Spanish - and first-ever U.S. president with a twin
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Wants medicare for all; universal pre-K; action on affordable housing; will not take money from political action committees (PACs) tied to corporations or unions. Other views still to be announced
Slogan: One Nation. One Destiny
JOHN DELANEY
Age on Inauguration Day: 57
Entered race: Filed papers July 28, 2017
Career: No current job. Three-time Maryland congressman, first winning election in 2012. Previously set up publicly-traded companies lending capital to healthcare and mid-size businesses and was youngest CEO at the time of a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm
Family: Married father of four; wife April works for children's issues nonprofit
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Social liberal in favor of legalized pot and gun control but not single-payer healthcare; fiscally conservative
Slogan: Focus on the Future
TULSI GABBARD
Age on Inauguration Day: 39
Entered race: Still to formally file any papers but said she would run on January 11 2019
Career: Currently Hawaii congresswoman. Born on American Samoa, a territory, and therefore may be subject to questions over whether she is natural-born. Raised largely in Hawaii, she co-founded an environmental non-profit with her father as a teenager and was elected to the State Legislature aged 21, its youngest member in history. Enlisted in the National Guard and served two tours, one in Iraq 2004-2006, then as an officer in Kuwait in 2009. Ran for Honolulu City Council in 2011, and House of Representatives in 2012
Family: Married to her second husband, Abraham Williams, a cinematographer since 2015. First marriage to childhood sweetheart Eduardo Tamayo in 2002 ended in 2006. Father Mike Gabbard is a Democratic Hawaii state senator, mother Carol Porter runs a non-profit. Would be first Samoan-American, first Hindu, first female and youngest-ever president
Religion: Hindu
Views on key issues: Has apologized for anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage views; wants marijuana federally legalized; opposed to most U.S. foreign interventions; backs $15 minimum wage and universal health care; was the second elected Democrat to meet Trump after his 2016 victory
Slogan: To be announced
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
Age on Inauguration Day: 54
Entered race: Announced exploratory committee on Stephen Colbert's CBS show on January 16, 2019. Formal launch in front of Trump International Hotel and Tower, New York, March 24, 2019
Career: Currently New York senator. Dartmouth and UCLA law grad who was a high-flying Manhattan attorney representing big businesses. Says she was inspired to enter politics by hearing Hillary Clinton speak, although she is also scion of a prominent New York Democratic political family. Won New York's 20th district, centered on Albany in 2004; appointed to Hillary Clinton's senate seat in 2008 and won it in 2010 special election 63-35; won first full term 2012 and re-elected 67-33 in 2018
Family: Married to British venture capitalist Jonathan Gillibrand with two sons, Theodore, 15, and Henry, ten. Father Douglas Lutnik was Democratic lobbyist; grandmother Polly Noonan was at center of Albany Democratic politics. Would be first female president
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Initially pro-gun as Congresswoman, has since reversed herself to be pro-gun control and also pro-immigration; said Bill Clinton should have resigned over Monica Lewinsky and helped force Al Franken out of Senate over groping allegations; in favor of single-payer healthcare and Medicare for all
Slogan: Brave wins
KAMALA HARRIS
Age on Inauguration Day: 56
Entered race: Announced she was running January 21, 2018 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - on Good Morning America. Formally entered race January 27
Career: Currently California senator. Howard and U.C. Hunter law school grad who worked as assistant district attorney in Alameda County, CA, then in San Francisco's DA's office before being elected San Francisco DA in 2003 and used it as springboard to run successfully for California attorney general in 2010. Won again in 2014 and was at center of U.S. attorney general and Supreme Court speculation but also endured a series of controversies, including over police brutality allegations. Ran for Senate in 2016 and established herself on liberal wing of party
Family: Born in Berkeley, CA, to immigrant Indian Tamil mother and Jamaican father who were both academics and brought up from seven to 18 in Montreal, Canada. Dated married San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, when he was 60 and she was 29. Married attorney Douglas Emhoff in 2014 and has two stepchildren; Cole, an aspiring actor, and Ella, an art and design student. Sister Maya was a Hillary Clinton adviser and brother-in-law Tony West is Uber's chief legal counsel. Would be first female, first Indian-American, first Jamaican-America and first female black president
Views on key issues: Social ultra-liberal who has rejected criticisms of 'identity politics' and is running without a political action committee, which will make her reliant on small donors. Has shifted left on criminal justice reform; supports Medicare for all; pro-gun control and anti-death penalty; says illegal immigration is a civil not a criminal offense
Religion: Has said she was brought up in both Baptist and Hindu tradition
Slogan: Kamala Harris: For The People
JOHN HICKENLOOPER
Age on Inauguration Day: 68
Entered race: March 4, 2019 with Good Morning America interview
Career: No current job. Wesleyan University-educated geologist who moved to Colorado to work in petroleum industry but was laid off and started Wynkoop Brewing Company, the first craft brewpub in 1988 in Denver's LoDo (lower downtown) area. Ran for mayor of Denver as an outsider in 2003 and won, then won a second term in 2007. Ran for Colorado governor in 2010 and won 51 per cent of the vote; his nearest rival took 36.5 per cent. Won re-election 49.3 to 46 in 2014, but was term limited and ended his second term in January 2019
Family: Married to second wife Robin Pringle, 40, a vice president at LibertyMedia Corp., owners of Sirius XM. Divorced first wife Helen Thorpe in 2012 after 10 years of marriage; ex-couple have son Teddy, a high school student. Born and brought up in Narbeth, in the Main Line of Philadelphia, his father's ancestors include Civil War Union general Andrew Hickenlooper
Religion: Quaker
Views on key issues: Voiced support for Green New Deal but has also been in favor of fracking; has not embraced single-payer healthcare but expanded Medicaid in Colorado; long record of being pro-gun control; pro-choice but has gone out of his way to talk about reducing unplanned teenage pregnancies ; opposed to the death penalty; advocated for gay marriage
Slogan: To be announced
JAY INSLEE
Age on Inauguration Day: 69
Entered race: March 1, 2019
Career: Currently Washington governor. Stanford drop-out who graduated from University of Washington and Williamette University School of Law before working as a city prosecutor in Selah, WA. First elected to Washington House of Representatives in 1989 and again in 1990; won Congressional seat in 1992 elections but lost in 1994 and then had failed 1996 gubernatorial run. Returned to Congress in 1998 elections and stayed until 2012 to run for governor. Won first term 51.5 to 48.5; re-elected in 2016 by 54.4 to 45.6
Family: Born in Seattle to late parents Frank, a Navy veteran and high school teacher and coach, and Adele, a Sears sales clerk. Married high school and college sweetheart Trudi since 1972. Three adult sons Jack, a radio producer in Washington D.C.; Connor, director of a Washington state non-profit for the disabled; and Joe, who works for King County, WA's department of natural resources and parks. Grandfather of three
Religion: Non-denominational Protestant
Views on key issues: Running to combat climate change with praise for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal - his record in Washington D.C. including aspiring to 'zero emissions' buildings and largely eliminate fossil fuel use; vocal gun control advocate; fought Trump's ban on entry to people from seven Muslim-majority countries; called moratorium on death penalty in Washington; supported marijuana legalization in Washington and expected to do so federally; will not take money from political action committees; healthcare position still unclear
Slogan: Our moment
AMY KLOBUCHAR
Age on Inauguration Day: 60
Entered race: Announced candidacy February 10, 2019 at snow-drenched rally in her native Minneapolis
Career: Currently Minnesota senator. Yale and University of Chicago law graduate who became a corporate lawyer. First ran unsuccessfully for office in 1994 as Hennepin, MI, county attorney, and won same race in 1998, then in 2002, without opposition. Ran for Senate in 2006 and won 58-38; re-elected in 2012 and 2018
Family: Married to John Bessler, law professor at University of Baltimore and expert on capital punishment. Daughter Abigail Bessler, 23, works fora Democratic member of New York City council. Father Jim, 90, was a veteran newspaper columnist who has written a memoir of how his alcoholism hurt his family; mom Rose is a retired grade school teacher. Would be first female president
Religion: Congregationalist (United Church of Christ)
Views on key issues: Seen as a mainstream liberal: says she wants 'universal health care' but has not spelled out how; pro-gun control; pro-choice; backs $15 minimum wage; no public statements on federal marijuana legalization; has backed pro-Israel law banning the 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' movement; spoke out against abolishing ICE
Slogan: To be announced
WAYNE MESSAM
Age on Inauguration day: 46
Entered race: Announced March 28, 2019, formal launch March 30, 2019
Career: Currently mayor of Miramar, Florida. Florida State University football star who played starting wide receiver, and graduated in 1997. Worked in construction industry as contractor and started his own company in 2007. Ran for City of Miramar Commission in 2011 and mayor in 2015, defeating 16-year Democratic incumbent and becoming first black mayor of the city. Won second term March 2019, days before announcing presidential bid
Family: Married to college sweetheart Angela Sands, 44, who is also his business partner. Three college-age children: son Wayne Jr. and twin daughters Kayla and Kyla. Fourth child and first American-born child of Jamaican immigrants Hubert , a sugar-cane cutter, and his wife Delsey, who are both deceased. Was president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials in 2018. Would be first Jamaican-American president
Religion: Worships at the Fountain of New Life Church in Miami Gardens where he is a deacon
Views on key issues: Says he is staunch advocate of gun control. Wants action on climate change and is opposed to off-shore oil drilling. Opposes Trump immigration policies and proposed forcing immigration officials to get a warrant before entering city property. Yet to state position on health care and foreign policy
Slogan: Your Champion
BETO O'ROURKE
Age on Inauguration Day: 47
Entered race: March 14, 2019
Career: No current job. Born Robert Francis O'Rourke. Boarding-school educated Columbia grad who lived in a New York loft, playing in a punk band and doing desultory jobs and setting up an internet firm. Ran for El Paso city council in 2005, winning re-election and serving until 2012. Ran for Congress in 2012, defeating eight-term Democratic incumbent in primary. Gave up seat to run for Senate against Ted Cruz in 2018, losing 51-48
Family: Married to wife Amy Sanders, nine years his junior, with sons Ulysses and Henry, and daughter Molly. Father Pat was long-time El Paso politician who switched from Democrat to Republican; mom Melissa ran family-owned store in city until selling it after IRS probe. Melissa's stepfather Fred Korth was one of JFK's secretaries of the Navy. Father-in-law William Saunders is real estate developer estimated to be worth $500 million
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Wants comprehensive immigration reform to give citizenship to 'dreamers' and a path to it for their parents, and vehemently opposes Trump's wall. Supports federal marijuana legalization. Pro-gun control including an assault rifle ban and universal background checks. Supports single-payer health care but with co-pays and has backed Medicaid expansion. Strongly pro-choice. Has hinted at backing breaking up tech giants. Said he would have voted for impeachment in Congress if he had had the chance
Slogan: To be announced
TIM RYAN
Age on Inauguration Day: 46
Entered race: April 4, 2019
Career: Currently Ohio congressman. High school football star who got a scholarship to Youngstown State, Ohio, but transferred to nearby Bowling Green University when his career ended in injury. Became a congressional aide, picked up a law degree, then served in the Ohio Senate and when his former House boss Jim Traficant went to prison for fraud ran for his seat in 2002 and won. Has held district - first Ohio 13th then the 17th when Youngstown was redistricted - since with little opposition since. Released book on meditation in 2012 and considered running against Nancy Pelosi for minority leader. Would be only second sitting congressman elected president - first was James Garfield, also from Ohio, in 1880
Family: Married first grade schoolteacher Andrea Zetts in 2013. Couple had a son, Brady, the following year. Zetts has a daughter, Bella, and a son, Mason, from her first marriage who Ryan says he 'loves like his own.' Ryan's first marriage ended in divorce. He was brought up by his mom Rochelle after she and his father Allen divorced when he was seven.
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Moderate who backs Medicare for all. Flipped from anti-abortion to pro-choice in dramatic fashion in 2015. Does not appear to back the Green New Deal but suggests a carbon tax. Spoken up for capitalism but is also pro-union. Advocated for mindfulness teaching in classrooms. Also flipped on gun control from A rating by NRA to strong support of anti-gun measures
Slogan: To be announced
BERNIE SANDERS
Age on Inauguration Day: 79
Entered race: Sources said on January 25, 2019, that he would form exploratory committee. Officially announced February 19
Career: Currently Vermont senator. Student civil rights and anti-Vietnam activist who moved to Vermont and worked as a carpenter and radical film-maker. Serial failed political candidate in the 1970s, he ran as a socialist for mayor of Burlington in 1980 and served two terms ending in 1989, and win a seat in Congress as an independent in 1990. Ran for Senate in 2006 elections as an independent with Democratic endorsement and won third term in 2018. Challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016 but lost. Campaign has since been hit by allegations of sexual harassment - for which he has apologized - and criticized for its 'Bernie bro' culture
Family: Born to a Jewish immigrant father and the daughter of Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. First marriage to college sweetheart Deboarah Shiling Messing in 1964 ended in divorce in 1966; had son Levi in 1969 with then girlfriend Susan Cambell Mott. Married Jone O'Meara in 1988 and considers her three children, all adults, his own. The couple have seven grandchildren. His older brother Larry is a former Green Party councilor in Oxfordshire, England. Would be first Jewish president
Religion: Secular Jewish
Views on key issues: Openly socialist and standard bearer for the Democratic party's left-turn. Wants federal $15 minimum wage; banks broken up; union membership encouraged; free college tuition; universal health care; re-distributive taxation; he opposed Iraq War and also U.S. leading the fight against ISIS and wants troops largely out of Afghanistan and the Middle East
Slogan: Not me. Us.
ERIC SWALWELL
Age on Inauguration Day: 39
Entered race: Announced on the Stephen Colbert Show, April 8, 2019
Career: College soccer scholar whose sporting career was ended by injury who was a Capitol Hill intern in the building on 9/11. University of Maryland law graduate, served as a prosecutor in Alameda County, CA – where Kamala Harris worked in earlier years. He was elected to Dublin City Council, CA, in 2010 and ran for Congress in California's 15th District the following year, unseating 20-seat Democrat incumbent through California's 'top-two' system. Number 6 on The Hill's 50 Most Beautiful List in 2014. Won fourth term 73-27 in 2018. Would be only second sitting congressman elected president - first was James Garfield in 1880
Family: Married second wife Brittany Ann Watts, a Ritz-Carlton sales director in 2016, and has a son Nelson and daughter Kathryn. First marriage to Melissa Maranda ended in divorce. Born in Iowa where his father was a police chief who was fired for being too hardline, and brought up in California where the family moved in search of work
Religion: Christian
Views on key issues: Socially-ultra liberal. Has called for mandatory buyback of 'military-style semi-automatic assault weapons' and other gun control measures. Supportive of the green new deal but with new jobs guarantee for fossil fuel workers. Wants 'health-care guarantee' rather than Medicare for all. Aggressive voice for investigation of Trump.
Slogan: Go big. Be bold. Do good.
ELIZABETH WARREN
Age on Inauguration Day: 71
Entered race: Set up exploratory committee December 31, 2018
Career: Currently Massachusetts senator. Law lecturer and academic who became an expert on bankruptcy law and tenured Harvard professor. Ran for Senate and won in 2012, defeating sitting Republican Scott Brown, held it in 2018 60% to 36%. Was short-listed to be Hillary's running mate and campaigned hard for her in 2016
Family: Twice-married mother of two and grandmother of three. First husband and father of her children was her high-school sweetheart. Second husband Bruce Mann is Harvard law professor. Daughter Amelia Tyagi and son Alex Warren have both been involved in her campaigns. Has controversially claimed Native American roots; DNA test suggested she is as little as 1,064th Native American. Would be first female president
Religion: Raised Methodist, now described as Christian with no fixed church
Views on key issues: Was a registered Republican who voted for the party but registered as a Democrat in 1996. Pro: higher taxes on rich; banking regulation; Dream Act path to citizenship for 'dreamers'; abortion and gay rights; campaign finance restrictions; and expansion of public provision of healthcare - although still to spell out exactly how that would happen. Against: U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Syria; liberalization of gambling
Slogan: To be announced
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Age on Inauguration Day: 68
Entered race: Announced exploratory committee November 15, 2018. Formally entered January 28, 2019
Career: Currently an author, Dropped out of Pomona College, California, became part of the counter culture and anti-war movement and ran a 'metaphysical bookstore' before publishing spiritual guide A Return to Love and being praised by Oprah, sending it to number one. Published series of follow-ups and founded AIDS charity and subsequently more non-profits including a peace movement. Ran for Congress in 2014 and lost
Family: Born to immigration attorney father Sam and housewife mother Sophie in Houston, Texas. Married for 'a minute and a half' to unnamed man; daughter India was born in 1990 but Williamson declines to name her father. Would be first female president
Religion: Jewish
Views on key issues: Wants vast expansion of physical and mental healthcare; and nutrition and lifestyle reforms including ban on marketing processed and sugary foods to children; universal pre-K; much of the Green New Deal's proposals including a de-carbonized economy, electric cars and rebuilding mass transit; gun control through licensing; wants more vacation time; pro decriminalizing all drugs
Slogan: Join the Evolution
ANDREW YANG
Age on Inauguration Day: 46
Entered race: Filed papers November 6, 2018
Career: No current job. Started a dotcom flop then become healthcare and education tech executive who set up nonprofit Venture for America
Family: Married father of two. His parents were both immigrants from Taiwan who met at the University of California, Berkeley, as grad students. Would be first Asian-American president
Religion: Reformed Church
Views on key issues: Warns of rise of robots and artificial intelligence, wants $1,000 a month universal basic income and social media regulated. Spoke out against male circumcision
Slogan: Humanity First
AND THOSE WHO'VE ALREADY WITHDRAWN
RICHARD OJEDA. West Virginia ex- state senator and paratrooper veteran
Entered race: November 12, 2018. Quit: January 25, 2019
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