Deep-pocketed L.G.B.T.Q. donor works have turned Pete Buttigieg, a formerly ltle-known mayor of a small Midwtern cy, to an unlikely polil dynamo—and, perhaps, Ameri’s bt hope of beatg Donald Tmp. “What is gog on now is one of the untold secrets of the D.N.C. and Democratic Party,” says one gay-rights lear. Is this his Obama moment?
Contents:
- CNN’S PETER HAMBY: GAY MARRIAGE ‘A SETTLED ISSUE’
- “I HAVE MAXED OUT TO PETE”: GAY MONEY, DEMOCRATIC SECRET WEAPON, COM OUT FOR BUTTIGIEG
- BEG GAY HURTS MAYOR PETE. IT HELPS, TOO.
- COULD RAND PL SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE?
CNN’S PETER HAMBY: GAY MARRIAGE ‘A SETTLED ISSUE’
“The gay muny should speak eely and clearly, and to have someone on the natnal and ternatnal stage is meangful to , ” said Ruf Gifford, the former ambassador to Denmark who was Obama’s natnal fance director 2012. “As a public member of the gay muny, ’s an spirg voice, whout a doubt.
It will be thanks to a growg set of major fund-raisers, many of them gay and lbian, who are alcg behd him early and fast, liverg substantial checks that other Democratic ndidat are choosg to leave on the big-money table. Prevly, gays and lbians were not explicly a target group for Democratic fund-raisers.
“I HAVE MAXED OUT TO PETE”: GAY MONEY, DEMOCRATIC SECRET WEAPON, COM OUT FOR BUTTIGIEG
But the culture was changg, and a gay man, Andy Tobias, had recently taken the res as treasurer of the Democratic Natnal Commtee.
” At the same time, beg out and gay was not mastream plac beyond major urban centers.
I remember once D Mo, we once set up a moveable wall at a hotel between the media and gay and lbian Iowans who me to our fund-raiser and wanted to talk. Donors is that he’s appealg to Democrats outsi the gay and lbian universe—that, so far, he appears to be viable wh straight people.
BEG GAY HURTS MAYOR PETE. IT HELPS, TOO.
But he is the right package of characteristics for gay donors. Jackson punctuated his troductn wh a rea often heard among Buttigieg donors: “I am old enough to remember when there were no out gay elected officials. “My only feelg, as far as beg gay, is n you image how life-savg and life-changg his electn would be for them?
Is beg gay an surmountable obstacle on the path to those priz? Their gaz variably fall on Buttigieg, but their apprehensns clu whether Ameri uld really elect a gay print. While there’s a history of ristance to gay marriage at many black church, other factors uld expla Buttigieg’s lack of succs wh Ain-Amerins, some of whom surely look at him and see what many whe crics of his also do: a charmed 37-year-old on the kd of gli path to greatns (Harvard, a Rhos scholarship, a stt as a nsultant wh McKsey) that f a Gallup poll published May, 83 percent of Democrats — and 82 percent of pennts — said that they’d be willg to vote for a gay printial ndidate.
COULD RAND PL SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE?
A Rters/Ipsos poll published the followg month showed that among all voters, 34 percent were ls likely to vote for a gay ndidate. “Gay Money, Democratic Secret Weapon, Com Out for Buttigieg” was the headle on an article Vany Fair by Peter Hamby this year.
30 plac him behd only Sanrs and while beg gay obvly disqualifi him for a sizable group of Amerins — 36 percent of whom, acrdg to Gallup, still oppose the legal regnn of same-sex marriage — what actn of them were likely to vote for a Democrat, anyway? All of that hg on how ftly he tegrat to his on that ont, he has been ft enough that, my view, beg gay don’t tomatilly doom him. His age and gree of experience — he’s the mayor of a cy, South Bend, Ind., of jt 100, 000 people — are arguably greater vulnerabili, and his fate won’t be anythg close to a referendum on gay sexual orientatn is disputably a challenge, but one that’s surmountable if opponents stumble, if voters’ mood is jt so, if his personaly sparkl, if his msage sparks.
@FrankBni • Facebook A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 29 of the New York edn wh the headle: Beg Gay Hurts Buttigieg. Could Rand Pl support gay marriage?