Pete Buttigieg, 38, was one of Joe Biden’s rivals among fellow Democrats in the White House race, eventually giving up his presidential ambitions and endorsing the former vice president in March.
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday picked his former Democratic rival, Pete Buttigieg, to head the US Transportation Department, according to Biden transition office.
Biden praised Buttigieg’s nomination, saying that he will “bring people together to get big things done”.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris echoed the compliments for Buttigieg, praising Biden’s former rival as an “innovative problem solver and trailblazing public servant”.
Buttigieg himself took to Twitter shortly after the announcement to express gratitude for Biden’s choice.
Earlier on Monday, multiple US media outlets reported on Buttigieg’s nomination as Transportation Secretary.
According to CNN, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo were also considered for the post, while Biden also mulled Buttigieg’s candidacy for other positions, particularly US ambassador to the United Nations and commerce secretary.
Reports that suggested Biden had been mulling a high-profile position for Buttigieg emerged earlier last week.
Democratic presidential candidate former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks at the National Action Network South Carolina Ministers’ Breakfast, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C
‘Most Diverse Administration in American History’
Buttigieg, a former city mayor, has never held federal office. The 38-year-old is a Harvard University and Oxford University graduate and the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who also deployed to Afghanistan as a US military intelligence officer in 2014.
Similar to Biden’s vice-president, Kamala Harris, Buttigieg was a Democratic candidate for the US presidency in 2020. In Iowa, he narrowly won the caucuses, but later dropped out of the race, endorsing Joe Biden in March.
The former mayor would become the first openly gay cabinet member, although his transportation resume is described by Politico as “thin”. According to Bloomberg, LGBTQ+ groups have pressured Biden to appoint a community representative to his cabinet.
While some praise the Biden administration’s picks for its commitment to diversity, others criticise some of the nominations for focusing on attempts to be inclusive and lacking attention to appointees’ experience in the field they would be nominated to head.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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