No. 15 in America · Week of November 9, 2026

Pete Buttigieg

Former transportation secretary

Pete Buttigieg is a former transportation secretary and mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

15
Rank: 72.9
Score of 100: 234.6K
Wikipedia readers, 28 days: None
YouTube subscribers

Photo: United States Department of Transportation, Public domain

Score breakdown

72.9 of 100

Nine parts, measured fresh each week. This is where Pete Buttigieg's points came from, and the evidence behind each one.

Reach: 22.5 / 30; 234.6K Wikipedia readers in 28 days; no channel of their own, so Wikipedia alone at 80%.
Momentum: 5.0 / 5; Readers up 160% on the 28 days before.
Debate activity: 12.0 / 20; Debates regularly: Takes on opponents regularly, alongside commentary, research or writing.
Record: 6.5 / 10; 2 sourced debates on this page. One earns 40%; five earn it all.
Opposition: 9.7 / 10; 1 ranked opponent, 3 other notable opponents, 1 debate without a notable opponent. Bigger opponents count for more.
Format: 8.3 / 10; Best 2 debates: formal debate, one against many.
Results: 2.5 / 5; No audience vote on record, so this is even.
Range: 2.0 / 5; 1 subject debated.
Recency: 4.4 / 5; Latest sourced debate: 2024. Full marks within a year, none after ten.

Debate record

Debates regularly

Persuasion
Democratic politics
Fox News appearances

Known for taking his case to hostile audiences, including 25 undecided voters on Jubilee's Surrounded.

Buttigieg was mayor of South Bend from 2012 to 2020 and transportation secretary from 2021 to 2025.

He attended Harvard and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.

Wikipedia

On the record

Notable debates

2024
November 3, 2024
1 Politician vs 25 Undecided Voters
One against many
Against 25 Undecided Voters · Jubilee, Surrounded
Pete Buttigieg took the one-against-many chair on Jubilee's Surrounded, facing challengers one at a time while the room could vote each one out of the seat.
Source: Surrounded episode record
2019
June 27, 2019
The first Democratic primary debate, night two
Formal debate
Against Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris · NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, Miami
Ten candidates on one stage. Buttigieg, the youngest at 37 and the only veteran, debated health care, race and the economy with the frontrunners.
Source: The American Presidency Project

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Notable debates

2024

November 3, 2024

1 Politician vs 25 Undecided Voters

One against many

Against 25 Undecided Voters · Jubilee, Surrounded

Pete Buttigieg took the one-against-many chair on Jubilee's Surrounded, facing challengers one at a time while the room could vote each one out of the seat.

Source: Surrounded episode record

2019

June 27, 2019

The first Democratic primary debate, night two

Formal debate

Against Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris · NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, Miami

Ten candidates on one stage. Buttigieg, the youngest at 37 and the only veteran, debated health care, race and the economy with the frontrunners.

Source: The American Presidency Project

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