Kathleen Struck, Esha Sarai contributed to this report.
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has become the latest Democrat to formally enter the crowded field of presidential candidates seeking to unseat Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
The 37-year-old, who announced a presidential exploratory committee in January, made it official at a rally in South Bend on Sunday.
The Harvard and Oxford graduate and Afghanistan war veteran has gone from being virtually unknown on the national political landscape to surging in recent polls, placing third behind behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg greets voters during a campaign stop at Portsmouth Gas Light, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, March 8, 2019. VOA
Buttigieg would be America's first openly gay president. His husband, Chasten, has also won over many American voters.
"As for my husband, you know I'm pretty biased, because I love him, but it's pretty great to see that the rest of America is falling in love with him too," Buttigieg said at a recent appearance in New Hampshire.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks with an AP reporter at his office in South Bend, Ind., Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. VOA
"Sometimes candidates have a few weeks or few months of stardom and then another 'it candidate' replaces them," Leah Askarinam, a reporter and political analyst for Inside Elections, told VOA. "So I think we know he's viable. I don't think we know at this point that he's going to be a star in the field."
At least 18 Democrats are in the run to become the party's nominee to face off against President Donald Trump in next year's election. (VOA)