Film spotlights Buttigieg campaign, marriage
Pete Buttigieg is the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, but some likely still think of him as South Bend, Indiana’s “Mayor Pete.”
That’s the title of a documentary about his failed 2020 presidential campaign, now streaming on Amazon Prime.
The film paints a more compelling, detailed picture than its title suggests. Buttigieg is simply – and not so simply – a husband and a man trying to understand the needs of his country, and not always succeeding.
Director Jesse Moss (“Boys State”) recognized Buttigieg, 39, was a rising star in the Democratic party but had no intention of making a documentary about him, even when his producer friends who suggested it promised access. They insisted he watch a town hall Buttigieg led – would that twist his arm? In a word, yes.
“I hadn’t seen (Buttigieg) really communicate that way before; I just read about him,” he says. “And I called (the producers) back, and I said, ‘Well, tell me again, do we really have access here?’ ”
The film follows Buttigieg from the early days of his campaign, beginning a year ahead of the Iowa caucus. It captures early organizing meetings in tiny rooms with staffers, campaign stops around the country and preparations for debates among the candidates. Although he has heartwarming interactions with constituents, he also faces blatant homophobia and tough questions about racial politics. And we catch a glimpse of his quick conversation Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Iowa, a precursor to Biden’s eventual picki of Buttigieg for his cabinet.
Moss met the mayor on an Amtrak train from New York to Washington in April 2019, the same month Buttigieg’s presidentail campaign kicked off in earnest. Awkwardness ensued as Buttigieg’s interpersonal communication skills lacked the authoritative finesse of his speeches.
“He was on the train, and I sat down next to him. And I said – he was with his campaign aides – ‘I’m Jesse, I’m this guy making this film you’ve agreed to do.’ And he’s like, ‘Hello.’ And just turned away and went back to his work. And I sat (there) for a few minutes, and there was no more conversation, no more small talk. And then I got up and I went back to my seat.”
But Moss eventually got to know Buttigieg by watching (and filming) him interact with his husband Chasten, whom he married in June 2018. During a moving campaign speech at the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Pete Buttigieg talks about how, while growing up, he wished he could cut the gay part out of himself with a knife. “If you had offered me a pill to make me straight, I would have swallowed it before you had time to (hand) me a sip of water,” he adds.
Chasten Buttigieg pulls him aside and encourages him to think about the weight of that moment and says it appears he’s alluding to past suicidal thoughts.
“This was also a glimpse into their relationship, their marriage issues that they were working out about how Pete was going to talk about his identity and what Chasten’s own role in this journey was,” Moss says.
He thought telling a relationship-focused story would better explain the man behind the campaign.
“It opened up a dimension to me that this is also a film about a relationship and a marriage and a loving couple who are doing something really difficult. And I thought, ‘I haven’t seen a campaign film before from that vantage (point),’ ” he says.
A poignant moment arrives when the couple sit together at a diner: Pete enjoys a meal while Chasten lies face down on the table resting. Pete and Chasten graze each other’s pinky fingers in a wordless moment of love.
“It’s a reminder to me too, that sometimes the smallest moments can be the biggest moments,” he says.
Moss elevated Chasten Buttigieg’s role over time.
“I brought Chasten more into what I was focusing on – of course, continuing to try to find ways to understand what was happening with the campaign behind the scenes – but a little bit of the political narrative receded. They were very connected, the two threads, but I found more interest in the personal relationship,” Moss says.
Of course, politics remains a prominent piece of the film. While starting off the presidential primary season strongly in the Iowa caucus (where he ultimately won the most national delegates after a delay in results reporting) and coming in second in New Hampshire, he fails to gain enough traction in South Carolina and suspends his campaign in March 2020.
Buttigieg is not always portrayed in the warmest light throughout the film – like when he struggles to handle racial tensions back in South Bend after a white police officer killed a Black man, Eric Logan.
“The conversation that Pete is forced to have, needs to have, must have is much bigger than Pete himself,” Moss says, adding the film anticipates our nationwide reckoning on racism and police violence. That said, there are moments of levity, as when Buttigieg and staff are stuck in an elevator right before the first primary debate.
“If you want to test a presidential character – whose button do you want on the nuclear trigger – well, maybe it’s the guy who keeps his (act together) when the elevator gets stuck on the 19th floor.”
The movie closes with a postscript: The Buttigiegs walking toward the Lincoln Memorial – hands held tightly together – filmed after Pete’s appointment to President Joe Biden’s cabinet (but before the couple welcomed twin children earlier this year).
“Mayor Pete” might require a sequel.