30 JUNE 2019 VOGUE.COM
THIS MONTH we profile Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South
Bend, Indiana, one of the nineteen (as I write this) hopefuls
for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. It’s
a field that includes newer faces like Buttigieg’s, party
stalwarts, and—especially heartening to me—a historic
number of brilliant women who are united only by their
gender; each encompasses extremely different points
of view. Mayor Pete is just one of the many candidates
we will speak with as we head toward next year’s
election—because in our current, ever-shifting landscape,
it’s anyone’s guess as to who will finally secure the
Democratic nomination. At a time when it’s anything but
business as usual in politics, that makes this unfolding
story particularly fascinating to cover.
Writer Nathan Heller spent time visiting Buttigieg
at home, meeting his husband, Chasten, and their two
rescue dogs, and touring the Midwestern city that he
has committed himself to reinvigorating. Not long after
Nathan’s trip, I met the mayor the morning following
his chat with Rachel Maddow, who asked him about not
only his ambitions for office but whether he and Chasten
planned to have kids. He is a thoroughly decent and
earnest man who is given to answering questions seriously
and sincerely, without recourse to the dread autospeakSTANDING FOR SOMETHING
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, PHOTOGRAPHED
BY ETHAN JAMES GREEN.
of the career politician. Of course, that could
be down to Buttigieg’s age—he’s 37. But it
also might be the age. It’s my belief that we’re
ready for a presidential candidate, whoever
that ends up being, who will take a calm and
commonsensical approach to politicking,
leaving divisiveness firmly where it belongs.
Already, though, and perhaps
unsurprisingly—given his relative youth and
how mediagenic he is—Buttigieg is being
compared to President Barack Obama. Yet
as political analyst Charlie Cook notes in
our story, a better comparison would be to
Presidents Carter and Clinton. Certainly,
with Buttigieg’s almost old-fashioned
approachability and steadfastness, there are
definite echoes of the former. Even the slogan
he unveiled for his campaign—“Pete for
America”—has a homespun directness which
speaks to a political landscape from another
era. In other ways, though, he could only be a
twenty-first-century candidate. It’s admirable
to see Buttigieg, an out-and-proud gay man—
someone as comfortable expressing his sexuality
as he is his devout Christianity—taking part
in the race for our country’s highest office. His
presence underscores, as we look forward to
marking the fiftieth anniversary of Stonewall,
just how far America has come—and how
much further we hope it can go.
Elsewhere, we bring you others who are
voicing how they feel about the world. Adam Green
chronicles, as we await the Tony Awards, a radically
transformed Broadway. As Adam explains, it has been
enriched and enlivened by so many newer playwrights
galvanized by race and identity and representation
(one, Jackie Sibblies Drury, just won the 2019 Pulitzer
for drama)—as well as by a dramatic reworking of
that American classic Oklahoma!, which brilliantly and
meaningfully incorporates some of the most pressing
issues we currently face, and Hadestown, a gloriously alive
musical version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.
Our cover star, Zendaya, is the kind of remarkable
young woman—and exceptional talent—we’d love to see
on Broadway. In the meantime, though, she’s about
to appear in a gritty HBO series, Euphoria, that will have
many recalibrating their opinion of her. Last October,
Zendaya captivated the room at our Forces of Fashion
conference by speaking so clearly and from the heart.
This issue, she is in good company.Letter from the Editor
Ever Hopeful