Nearly 60 US mayors pen op-ed backing Buttigieg’s 2020 bid

Nearly 60 mayors from across the country on Wednesday endorsed Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., for president in the 2020 election. 

“Mayor Pete has become a role model — and in some cases, a mentor — to mayors like us,” they wrote Wednesday in USA Today. “We endorse him from heartland towns, coastal cities, suburban communities and every other corner of our great country.”

{mosads}”We’re proud to stand together as ‘Mayors for Pete,’ and hope you’ll join us in supporting this bold and unifying leader who will help us write a better future,” they added.

The mayors, which included those from cities such as Austin, Texas’ Dayton, Ohio; Minneapolis; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., cited Buttigieg’s commitment to “practical solutions over partisan ideology” and successes in his community as the reasons for their backing. 

They also wrote in support of his policy proposals such as “Medicare For All Who Want It” plan and “Douglass Plan” to improve prosperity in black communities. 

Buttigieg joined the 2020 Democratic presidential primary as a relatively unknown candidate earlier this year but had a surge of momentum. 

In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, the Indiana mayor sits in fifth place in the crowded Democratic field, polling at an average of 5.3 percent.

He is also one of three mayors in the race, along with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Miramar, Fla. Mayor Wayne Messam.