WATCH LIVE: Maltese-American Formally Announces Run For US Presidency… And Mark Zuckerberg Has Tuned In
Pete Buttigieg, a half-Maltese mayor of a small American city in Indiana, is officially launching his run for the White House.
Buttigieg, 37, is seeking to become the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee and go up against President Donald Trump next year. He is openly gay, meaning he will become the first openly gay choice of a major political party if he wins the nomination.
He is already generating a significant buzz in the United States and is polling in third place in Iowa and New Hampshire, behind Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Indeed, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has tuned in to watch the launch of his campaign.
However, some left-wing critics have criticised him for lacking a detailed policy platform.
Buttigieg, 37, is the son of Joseph Buttigieg, a Maltese national who moved to the United States to read for a PhD and eventually landed a job as a professor of English at a university in Indiana.
He was first elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana in 2011, making him the youngest mayor of a US city with at least 100,000 residents. He was re-elected to the post in 2014 with a whopping 80% of the vote.
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