SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said Monday he won’t seek a third term, fueling speculation he may run for president in 2020.
Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay 36-year-old who gained national attention as he campaigned for Democratic National Committee chairman last year , declined to comment on his future political plans. He said he doesn’t expect to make any announcements before January.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re looking at things, and we’ll continue to do so going into the new year,” he said.
Asked whether he’d comment about a possible presidential bid, he smiled and replied “nope.”
Buttigieg is scheduled to speak Saturday at an Iowa political dinner along with other potential Democratic presidential candidates. He also spoke at a Progress Iowa event last year.
He authored a book that’s scheduled to be released in February about his life and experience as mayor of the northwest Indiana community of roughly 100,000.
Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar who won his first term in 2011, at age 29. In 2015 he publicly announced he was gay in a newspaper column. Five months later he won his second term as mayor with more than 80 percent of the vote.
He married his husband, Chasten Glezman, in June.
Buttigieg also served as a Naval Reserve officer in Afghanistan in 2014.
