In stirring speech, Pete Buttigieg makes history again for LGBTQ Americans as first gay cabinet nominee Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY UP NEXT
Nearly a year ago in Des Moines, Pete Buttigieg hugged his husband onstage after his win in the Iowa caucuses made him the first openly LGBTQ candidate to earn delegates toward a major political party’s presidential nomination.
Now, he’s making history again as the first openly gay man to be nominated to a Cabinet role, with President-elect Joe Biden tapping Buttigieg this week as his pick for U.S. Transportation secretary.
As Buttigieg accepted the nomination Wednesday afternoon, he recalled how as a 17 year old in Indiana, he watched the experience of James Hormel, who President Bill Clinton nominated as ambassador to Luxembourg in 1998 an appointment Senate Republicans balked at for two years in protest.
12:50 p.m. ET, December 16, 2020
Buttigieg on the significance of nomination: I m mindful the eyes of history are on this appointment
Pete Buttigieg, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden s nominee to be secretary of transportation, reacts to his nomination as Biden looks on during a news conference at Biden s transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 16. Kevin Lamarque/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Pete Buttigieg was just formally nominated by President-Elect Joe Biden as his transportation secretary in Wilmington, Delaware.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Buttigieg would be the first LGBTQ Cabinet secretary approved by the chamber.
Buttigieg used part of his remarks to note the significance of his nomination and shared a personal story about his journey.
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We speak with Nina Turner, one of Bernie Sanders’s top allies, the day after she announced she is running for Congress in Ohio to fill the seat of Congressmember Marcia Fudge, who Biden tapped to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Turner has promised to hold the Biden team accountable and pressure the incoming administration to enact a progressive agenda. “I’m running in service of the people,” says Turner. “We need more, not just bold voices, but people who will take action and will be fearless when it comes to standing up for what is just, for what is right and for what is good.” Turner is a former state senator from Ohio who served as president of Our Revolution, the progressive organization spun out of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, and national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign. If elected, she will join the growing progressive wing of the Democratic Party i
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg landed a spot in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet with the announcement Tuesday that the former midwestern mayor will be nominated to helm the Transportation Department.
The 38-year-old former presidential rival made history as a trailblazing candidate in the Democratic primary early this year, becoming the first major openly gay candidate to claim delegates in the major party contest. Now Buttigieg stands as a cabinet nominee before the incoming Senate next year, a triumphant rise for the mayor of a relatively minor midwestern city.
Buttigieg’s rise was propelled by the same media eager to boost him in the presidential primary, capitalizing on the candidate’s sexuality as outlets covered the crowded contest in a party consumed by identity politics.
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Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported each morning this week: Monday,
299,181; Tuesday, 300,482; Wednesday, 303,849.
There have been enough U.S. fatalities from COVID-19 to fill the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor three times, or decimate an entire city the size of Cincinnati.
Against a welcome backdrop of anticipated U.S. approval of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, congressional leaders on Tuesday vowed to stay in Washington until they enact legislation this month to help constituents scarred by the pandemic.