Meet Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Democratic presidential candidate 'Mayor Pete,' who is a high school teacher and dog dad

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Meet Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Democratic presidential candidate 'Mayor Pete,' who is a high school teacher and dog dad

Chasten (left) and Pete Buttigieg.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Chasten (left) and Pete Buttigieg.

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  • Chasten Buttigieg, who is married to South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, has become a popular figure in his own right.
  • The 29-year-old junior high school teacher's wit, intimate social media musings, and polished speeches have prompted glowing media coverage and declarations that he's "winning the 2020 spouse primary."
  • Chasten has already said that as the country's inaugural first gentleman, he'd focus on improving public schools, access to arts education, and mental healthcare.
  • Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

If social media presence is any indication, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg is the most popular 2020 presidential spouse on the trail.

South Bend, Indiana mayor and 2020 contender Pete Buttigieg's husband has amassed national name recognition as his husband launched from relative obscurity to one of the most talked-about Democrats in the 2020 race.

While his husband welcomes the new attention, Chasten is quick to poke fun at it.

"Being Pete's husband has already been the adventure of a lifetime," he told the crowd at a Human Rights Campaign annual dinner last week. "I now live in a world where people take photos of me in the deodorant aisle at the grocery store."

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His regular wit, intimate social media musings, and polished speeches have prompted glowing media coverage and declarations that Chasten is "winning the 2020 spouse primary."

Read more: Pete Buttigieg wants to end the Electoral College, add more seats to the Supreme Court, and become America's youngest president

The Buttigiegs (pronounced "BOOT-edge-EDGE") are in part campaigning on their identity as gay men. Mayor Pete, as people in South Bend call him, is the second-ever openly gay man to run for president.

"I could be the first man in history to pick out the White House china," Chasten, an improv comedian, said to cheers during his HRC speech.

Here's what you need to know about Chasten Buttigieg:

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Chasten left his job as a junior high school teacher to campaign with his husband.

Chasten left his job as a junior high school teacher to campaign with his husband.

Chasten is taking a break from his day job as a junior high school humanities and drama teacher at a South Bend Montessori school to work full-time on his husband's presidential bid.

He's already said that as the country's first "first gentleman," he'd focus his work on improving the nation's public schools, access to arts education, and mental healthcare.

Chasten grew up in Traverse City, Michigan. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in theater and global studies in 2011, he became a drama teacher in Milwaukee.

He later moved to Chicago to get a Masters of Education in curriculum studies from DePaul University and worked as a substitute teacher.

Chasten and Pete met on a dating app and went on their first date in September 2015 in South Bend. They got married in June 2018, in a ceremony at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend.

Chasten is very online.

Chasten is very online.

Chasten is probably best known for his Twitter presence, which is alternatively funny and heartfelt.

I’m being replaced pic.twitter.com/wdYH36YJA7

— Chasten Buttigieg (@Chas10Buttigieg) March 18, 2019

Your time in the closet and your journey to coming out belong to you. You are not required to open healed wounds or write lengthy threads in order to explain your worth to others who aren’t willing to see it themselves. You matter first.

— Chasten Buttigieg (@Chas10Buttigieg) April 2, 2019