4 reactions to Buttigieg dropping out of the race

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Monday, March 02, 2020

Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announces he is suspending his presidential campaign, March 1, 2020. | Facebook/Pete Buttigieg

On Sunday, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced that he was suspending his campaign to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee.

“We have a responsibility to consider the effect of remaining in this race any further,” stated Buttigieg. “Our goal has always been to help unify Americans to defeat Donald Trump and to win the era for our values. ... We must recognize that at this point in the race, the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together.”

Buttigieg garnered headlines for being both a practicing Christian, specifically a member of The Episcopal Church, and for being in a same-sex marriage.

Buttigieg was known to be critical of conservative Christianity, and especially public figures like Vice President Mike Pence, arguing in part that they were not focusing on the broader messages of the Bible.

Meanwhile, Buttigieg periodically received public criticism over his views on issues like abortion from his brother-in-law, an evangelical pastor named Rhyan Glezman.

Here are four reactions to the end of the Buttigieg campaign. They include a former openly gay bishop, a conservative attorney, a progressive Christian activist, and a conservative Christian activist.