Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Says America Is Ready For A Gay President On NBC’s “Meet The Press”: He Also Addresses Prior Lack Of Support From Black Voters

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press today and was asked by host Kristen Welker if he believes America is ready to elect an openly gay president.

Welker referenced former former Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, who said in her book, 107 Days, that Buttigieg was her first choice for vice president but she did not believe America was ready for a Black woman at the top of the presidential ticket aside a gay man as the vice presidential nominee.

In her book, Harris said the choice was “too big of a risk”. She ultimately chose Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz.

“I would never run for president in the first place if I didn’t believe that, of course”, said Buttigieg in acknowledging his belief that America is ready to elect a gay president, citing, his experience getting reelected with 80 percent of the vote as South Bend, Indiana mayor after coming out as gay.

“And my experience right now traveling the country shows me that what’s really on peoples minds isn’t about you, your identity as a candidate, it’s about them, their lives. Right now, Americans are hurting in Trump’s economy”.

Buttigieg made history in the 2020 presidential election by running a strong campaign for the Democratic nomination–the first openly gay man to do so. In the first-in-the-nation caucus primary state of Iowa, Buttigieg won the most state delegate equivalents (26.2%), narrowly edging out Senator Bernie Sanders in a chaotic, delayed vote count.

Riding the momentum from Iowa, he finished a close second to Sanders, capturing 24.4% of the vote and tying Sanders for the highest number of national delegates from the state.

His momentum began to slow in Nevada, where he finished third with roughly 14.3% of the delegates, falling behind both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

South Carolina marked the end of his competitive path. He finished a distant fourth with only 8.2% of the vote, while Joe Biden secured a landslide victory that reshaped the race–largely on the strength of turnout and support from Black voters in the state, who comprise an estimated 57% percent of the Democratic primary electorate there.

Buttigieg has been active in the 2026 cycle, and has campaigned across the country in support of several Black candidates Welker said were in “long-shot House races” in states like Arkansas and here in Georgia, where a Black candidate is running in a heavily-Republican district where one-time Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor-Greene held the congressional seat.

Welker pointed out that Buttigieg infamously struggled to attract Black voters in his 2020 run. A poll taken in the summer of 2019 after a Democratic debate showed Buitigieg with zero percent support among Black voters, who make up a significant portion of the Democratic primary electorate.

She then asked if Buttigieg’s current activity was designed as part of a strategy to boost his standing with Black voters.

“Well any strategy is to make sure that Democrats win nationwide and in these key races has to include making sure that we engage and support and turn out Black communities, especially at a moment like this where the Republican project of systematically dismantling Black political representation, especially in the South, has hit home in the wake of that horrific Supreme Court decision gutting the voting rights act”, he said.

“Look, you know who definitely understands the power of the Black voter?”, he asked. “Republicans who have been working to suppress it in a number of ways. So I think it is very important to be supporting these communities and that’s been a big part of my travel, campaigning with these candidates who have taken on tough races in places I really believe we can win”.