Buttigieg's major political positions included abolition of the United States Electoral College, support for a public health insurance option with an individual mandate,[7] labor unions, universal background checks for gun purchases, protecting the environment by addressing climate change, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, overturning the Citizens United ruling, and a federal law prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people.

[8] After placing fourth in the South Carolina primary—and not seeing a path to gain the DNC nomination—Buttigieg dropped out of the race on March 1, 2020, having earned 26 delegates and almost 17% of the popular vote.

Buttigieg had attracted some speculation as being a potential presidential candidate, especially following his visit to the early caucus state of Iowa in December 2018, where he announced that he would not seek reelection as mayor of South Bend.

[13] On January 23, 2019, he announced the formation of an exploratory committee to run for President of the United States in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

[15] Buttigieg's performance in his town hall attracted significant attention, particularly his remarks on former Indiana governor and incumbent Republican vice president Mike Pence.

[31] Criticism of Buttigieg's handling of racial issues in South Bend led to doubts about his ability to attract black voters.

[32] Following the controversial shooting of Eric Logan, an African American man, by a white South Bend police officer in June 2019, Buttigieg put his campaign on hold to focus on the emerging public reaction.

Buttigieg convened a local town hall on June 23, where he heard the grievances of disaffected activists in the African American community as well as relatives of Eric Logan.

[41][42] His campaign sustained questions about the low level of city contracting with minority owned businesses and hiring of persons of color during Buttigieg's tenure as mayor.

[48] Huffington Post noted it is in the fuzzy area of social media where there is an exception: “if the information material to the creation, production, or distribution of the communication was obtained from a publicly available source”.

[50] According to the New York Times, former President Barack Obama called Buttigieg before the Super Tuesday primaries to tell him "that he would never have more leverage than on the day that he was quitting the race — and the former South Bend mayor soon joined the avalanche of former candidates backing Mr.

[61] Buttigieg received mixed responses from the media following his debate performance,[62][63][64] which focused mainly on dissecting Bernie Sanders viewpoints with much critique, in hopes to winning over supporters of the front runner with an alternative choice.

Buttigieg also tried to discredit his moderate competition in Amy Klobuchar, specifically highlighting the fact she forgot the name of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

According to a Newsweek article, (who cited Statista), Pete Buttigieg had the 4th longest talking time, clocking in at 14 minutes 52 seconds during the debate.

Buttigieg is pro-choice;[66] as such, he supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion services in all but the most extreme circumstances.

[67] In 2018, as mayor, Buttigieg vetoed a South Bend Common Council rezoning decision that would have allowed an anti-abortion center to open next door to the abortion clinic, Whole Women's Health Alliance.

[69] Even though the South Bend Common Council supported the rezoning exception, Buttigieg said, "I don’t think it would be responsible to situate two groups literally right next to each other ... that have diametrically opposed views on the most divisive social issue of our time."

"[71] Buttigieg released a plan to combat climate change that rests on the following three pillars: building a clean economy through the creation of clean energy jobs; improving resilience by investing in disaster relief and prevention; and building the United States' role on the international stage in the urgent fight against climate change.

"[80] In 2019, Buttigieg professed himself "troubled" by former President Obama's decision to commute the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Iraq War whistleblower, days before leaving office in 2017; Buttigieg also gave a mixed evaluation of Edward Snowden's disclosure of classified information, saying that "we've learned things about abuses and that one way or another that needed to come out" but that "the way for that to come out is through Congressional oversight, not through a breach of classified information.

"[81] In August 2019, Buttigieg released a plan to decriminalize drug addiction and mental illness, favoring diversionary programs over incarceration.

[84] As a self-proclaimed democratic capitalist, Buttigieg supports a constitutional amendment to protect democracy from the undue and corruptive influence of money in politics.

[89] However, he notably disapproves of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's zeal for annexing Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

[90] In January 2019, following Juan Guaidó's self-declaration as interim president of Venezuela, Buttigieg told HuffPost that as a supporter of free and fair elections, he is amenable to potential sanctions but not a military intervention imposed on the country.

[102] Announcing it at a Chicago meeting of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH civil rights organization, Buttigieg compared the plan's scope to that of the U.S.'s Marshall Plan, which invested funds in war-torn Europe after World War II, and said it would address "opportunity for minority businesses, strengthening voting rights, and reforming the criminal justice system."

[105] After criticism of the press release, the Buttigieg campaign responded that they had sent the plan to a list of supporters and asked them to opt out if they did not want to be included.

[109] In July 2019 Buttigieg announced a plan to increase participation in national service organizations like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, as well as creating new ones dedicated to "fighting climate change, treating mental health and addiction, and providing caregiving for older people".

[110] The initiative prioritizes volunteering in predominantly minority communities and rural areas by tripling programs to 250,000 people at first, then expanding to one million by 2026.

[118] According to The Daily Beast his “candidacy has shown young people anxious about coming out that being gay is no longer a barrier to full participation in our society”.