Never have I felt so valued at church as I did last Sunday. Presbyterians I hardly knew tugged at my sleeve or grabbed my elbow or those less buttoned-up screeched in my face — all congratulating me on getting to meet Pete Buttigieg. I’d posted a photo of Pete and me on FaceBook that week. A well-heeled Democratic couple in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood scrambled a party together that raised $700,000 for the Presidential campaign of candidate Kamala Harris six days after she chose Governor Tim Walz as her Vice Presidential running mate. A friend bought two tickets he couldn’t use and asked if I’d like to have them.

Gulp. Yes. Yes. Yes. I said. Pete Buttigieg is the most poplar Democrat in the United States. He’s the youngest person ever to serve as US Secretary of Transportation, was the mayor of South Bend, ran for president in 2020, is married with two children and oh, he’s gay. When he kicked off his campaign for President in 2019, I traveled to South Bend with Amy, Peter and Mark in the pouring rain to be at his announcement in the leaky old Studebaker factory. Pete was on Kamala’s short list for Veep, but, well, he’s gay. The US electorate can stretch its collective imagination to accept only one major cultural shift at a time. I guess. Democrats like me are giddy over the historic candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, a black woman, running at the top of the ticket. We would have been rapturous if she’d chosen Pete, but honestly, we’re not far from that in her choice of Tim Walz, a funny smart former high school football coach who loves state fairs, teaching, sitting on Congressional committees, governing Minnesota, serving in the National Guard and traveling to China.

I just love campaigns. I love candidates, campaign organizers, campaign volunteers, campaign consultants, campaign buttons, campaign events and campaign offices. My high school held a student-led Democrat-Republican combined mock convention in 1964. I was assigned to be Republican candidate Nelson Rockefeller’s campaign manager. I wrote to Rockefeller’s campaign office in New York requesting his platform in order to write my nominating speech for the mock convention. The campaign responded by sending me free stuff: crates full of campaign buttons, posters, leaflets, scarves, ties, cufflinks, bracelets, position papers, and even a suggested stump speech. I plastered the school with Rockefeller posters and made sure every student had some sort of paraphernalia with “Nelson” on it. The students chanted “Nelson! Nelson!”, I delivered my nominating speech and Rockefeller won the student endorsement by a wide margin. 

I had already been steeped in soda-shop debates rebutting a freshman classmate’s anti-government racist diatribes. I read the boy’s constant companion, the 1958 publication The Blue Book of the John Birch Society ( a precursor to Trumpism and Project 2025) in order to prove him wrong point by point.

In the eighth grade my class was bussed to the airport and given hand-held American flags to wave and cheer as President Dwight Eisenhower deplaned from Air Force One. 

Sixty-five years later, I’m still at it.

Regan Burke's avatar
Regan Burke's book, "In That Number" was a finalist for Chicago Writers Association non-fiction Book of the Year. Her brief memoirs and personal essays appear in the Christian Science Monitor, Sun Magazine, Chicago History Museum "In This Together" Project, City Creatures, Safe 'n Sound, Easter Seals Blog. Chaleur, Rise Up Review, Bird Garden's Murder of Writers and Writing Out Loud. She lives on Potawatomi land in downtown Chicago with Elsa, the West Highland Terrier. Her main activity is reducing the weight of the here and now.

23 thoughts on “Me & Pete Buttigieg”

  4. Hi Regan, it’s Giselle, Barina’s daughter 🙂 Hope summer is treating you well and for the likes of your newsletter, it seems to be a good one!I’m writing with a favor – as you may know, I

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  5. In 2020, Harris or Buttigieg were 1st & 2nd choices. Hopefully or country can transcend racism and homophobia to allow these two to lead the democratic party into the future. Neat that you got to meet Buttigieg.

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  6. I admit it: I’m jealous that you got to meet Pete Buttigieg AND you have a lovely photo of the occasion. I’m a huge fan and volunteered for his campaign. And I look for his interviews and videos eagerly (although I am more than a little dismayed by the hateful comments sprinkled among the words of praise). If only this country were mature enough to cheer for a fantastic gay man for VP. Even so, I think it’s better for him to be in the Cabinet because he will have more impact and be in front of the public. Next: a successful run for president!
    I love your writing, by the way.

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    1. Thank you! I agree. I hope he stays at Transportation because in 2 years he’ll be going around the country to ribbon-cutting ceremonies from all that infrastructure money. More people will start to love him as we do.

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  7. I was a big fan of Vice President Rockefeller…did you do better as his mock campaign manager than his real campaign manager Stuart Spencer?

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  9. What a coincidence: I love campaign volunteers, too. And you, dear Regan, are one of my favorites! A huge thank you for spelling out Pete’s last name for us: Pete Buttigieg. Without being able to see, in my head I’ve long thought it was spelled like this:

    Buddha Judge.

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  15. so glad you’re still “at it.” I’m a huge Pete fan, still have a pin for his presidential run from you!

    This Kamala campaign is thrilling.

    sallyb

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  16. Ephesians “don’t let the sun go down on your anger” was the reading this Sunday. Hating the haters is just another way of saying “I’m not one of those people” You can call it class warfare, racism or being democrat or republican. For everyone who gets the affirmation of a tug at the sleeve there is someone else who is not even in the room.

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