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Pete Buttigieg, the former small-city Indiana mayor and first openly gay major presidential candidate, has officially pulled out of the Democratic race of US presidential nomination
This follows a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance highlighted an inability to build the broad coalition of voters needed to defeat Donald Trump in November.
Peter Buttigieg’s decision was confirmed to Australian media by his first cousin, former North Queensland Cowboys front rower and 3-game Origin legend John Buttigieg.
“Yeah, look, mate” John Buttigieg told reporters for the Betoota Advocate from his home in suburban Mount Isa, a stones throw from the Katter electoral office.
“The Aussie side of the family had big hopes for Petey nabbing the White House”
“But it turns out his new career as a full-time politician was almost as short as Mal Meninga’s”
John Buttigieg says he comes from a family of fighters, and pointed to his own efforts weathering a seven-year-career for the Cowboys.
“Pete’s a fighter too. He’s openly gay, he’s a millennial and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.”
“I had my own war, the Super League war. But yeah, Pete actually saw military combat. I only saw the gladiatorial combat known as State Of Origin football.”
Peter Buttigieg’s decision to drop out of the race comes just 48 hours before the biggest voting day of the primary, Super Tuesday, when 15 states and territories will allot about one-third of the delegates over all. The results were widely expected to show him far behind Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.
John Buttigieg says the family is now redirecting their support to Senator Sanders, based on his polices aimed at eliminating capital punishment and and private prisons.
“Even after dropping out the Democratic race, Peter is a winner in our eyes. These last few months have been big for our family”
“Almost as big as my first grade debut for North Queensland against Balmain in round 13, 1996 at Parramatta Stadium.”
