“Tonight, an improbable dream became an undeniable reality,” Pete Buttigieg,
the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told supporters in Iowa late Monday
night as results of the state’s presidential caucuses were coming in. He said
his campaign had created a new path forward for voters and were on “the cusp of
changing the game for ordinary Americans.” As supporters chanted “President
Pete,” Buttigieg said he had proved skeptics of his campaign wrong and vowed to
“move America forward” into a new era. “This is our only shot to galvanize a
majority” to defeat President Donald Trump, Buttigieg said. He added that the
purpose of the presidency was to unify and empower the American people and said
he remembered what it felt like to be an outsider as a lonely teenager in
Indiana. “Now that same person is standing in front of you, a mayor, a veteran,
happily married and one step closer to becoming the next president of the
United States,” said Buttigieg. “That is the America we are building.”