In Quotes

Chasten Buttigieg on his journey from conservative town to kissing Pete on the campaign trail

“I did not consider myself a political person – then I fell in love with this mayor who decided to run for president.

I did not know how or what to be out on the campaign trail. I was very nervous about presenting myself in the wrong way. I realized you’ve just got to take a deep breath and be yourself.

I started opening up about growing up gay in the Midwest, what it was like coming out in a very conservative rural place, what it was like watching my mother battle cancer. She’s still battling cancer and our American healthcare system.

You know, and there were so many things that I felt like you’re supposed to keep locked up inside because those vulnerabilities might make you look weaker. But the more I talked about them, the more I felt like people connected with us, connected with the race and our shared American experience.

He later said: “I did not mean to cause such a kerfuffle when I kissed my husband at his [campaign] launch, but then I heard about that kiss all across the country.

People coming up and saying what it meant to them to see an out and proud couple on the national stage like that.””— Chasten Buttigieg, husband of current Secretary of Transportation and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show over the weekend.

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