Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( BOOT-ə-jəj; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who is Presid...
Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( BOOT-ə-jəj; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who is President Joe Biden's nominee for the position of United States Secretary of Transportation. He was the 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020, earning him the nickname "Mayor Pete".Buttigieg is a graduate of Harvard College and Oxford University, attending the latter on a Rhodes Scholarship. From 2009 to 2017, he was an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He was mobilized and deployed to the War in Afghanistan for seven months in 2014. Before being elected as Mayor of South Bend in 2012, Buttigieg worked on the political campaigns of Democrats Jill Long Thompson, Joe Donnelly, and John Kerry. While serving as mayor, Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015. He married Chasten Glezman, a schoolteacher, writer, and LGBTQ rights advocate, in June 2018. Buttigieg declined to seek a third term as mayor.
Buttigieg ran as a candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, launching his campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election on April 14, 2019. He became the first openly gay person to launch a major presidential campaign. Despite initially low expectations, he gained significant momentum in mid-2019 when he participated in several town halls and debates. Buttigieg narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and placed second in the New Hampshire primary. By winning Iowa, he became the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary or caucus. Buttigieg dropped out of the race on March 1, 2020, and endorsed Joe Biden the following day.In December 2020, President Biden named Buttigieg as his nominee to be Secretary of Transportation. He is the first openly gay Cabinet nominee in U.S. history.
VS
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( FYNE-styne; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who has served as the United States...
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( FYNE-styne; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who has served as the United States Senator from California since 1992, and the Senior Senator since Alan Cranston's retirement. A member of the Democratic Party, she was mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. In the 1960s, she worked in city government. Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk by Dan White drew national attention. Feinstein succeeded Moscone as mayor and became the first woman to serve in that position. During her tenure, she led the renovation of the city's cable car system and oversaw the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
After losing a race for governor in 1990, Feinstein won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. She was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two women became California's first female U.S. senators. Feinstein has been reelected five times and in the 2012 election received 7.75 million votes—the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history.Feinstein authored the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004. She introduced a new assault weapons bill in 2013 that failed to pass. Feinstein is the first and only woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007–09) and the Select Committee on Intelligence (2009–15), and the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.
At 87, Feinstein is the oldest sitting U.S. senator. Upon the retirement of Barbara Mikulski in January 2017, Feinstein became the longest-tenured female senator currently serving; should she serve through November 5, 2022, Feinstein will surpass Mikulski's record as the longest-tenured female senator. Also, should she serve through April 13, 2021, she will become the longest-serving senator from California, surpassing Hiram Johnson.
In January 2021, Feinstein filed the initial Federal Election Commission paperwork needed to seek reelection in 2024, when she will be 91.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!