Has Never Captured More Than 10,991 Votes in a Single Successful Race
INDIANAPOLIS – South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who will reportedly officially kick off his presidential campaign this weekend, is being touted as a potential Midwest, blue-collar, Rust Belt vote-getter on the national stage, but the reality of his record of electoral and political failure paints a stark contrast with his imagined storyline.
“The fact is Pete Buttigieg has only proven he can get elected in a blue city in a red state,” said Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party. “The only reason he is running for president is because he hasn’t been able to secure any other job he has sought and there is no path for him to win statewide in Indiana.”
Hupfer added, “Buttigieg has never captured more than 10,991 votes in a single successful race for office. Candidates for student body president on some college campuses get more votes than that.”
His two major losses have been at the state and national level, respectively. In 2010, Buttigieg ran for and lost the Indiana State Treasurer race by a 62.4% to 37.5% margin. Then in early 2017 he dropped out of the race for Democrat National Committee chair in the middle of his nomination speech in order to “avoid a potentially low vote total.”
And when Buttigieg has been successful, it has been at the local level where he has never exceeded more than 0.001% of the total number of votes received by any presidential nominee in the past four elections.
- 2011 Primary: 7,663 votes
- 2011 General: 10,991 votes
- 2015 Primary: 8,369 votes
- 2015 General: 8,515 votes
*Note: Buttigieg only outperformed his 2015 Primary Election total by 146 votes in the General Election*
“On game day, Notre Dame Stadium draws eight times more fans than votes Pete Buttigieg has ever received in a single successful race for office,” said Hupfer.