Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) credits himself with leading South Bend’s Rust Belt transformation and has said Democrats could benefit from a new generation of leaders. “Right now our country needs a fresh start,” he said in his announcement video.

Accomplishments: He graduated from Harvard and earned a Rhodes Scholarship before moving back home to Indiana at age 29, where he became the mayor of South Bend. That made him the youngest mayor of a city with more than 100,000 people. He was also in the Navy Reserve, and served a tour in Afghanistan.

Foreign policy: He has said the U.S. has to “get out of Afghanistan,” but only after “a negotiated solution that establishes some level of regional security” so that the U.S. doesn’t have to return to the country in response to another terrorist attack.

What sets him apart: At 37 when he announced, Buttigieg is one of the youngest candidates, and would be the youngest U.S. president ever if elected. Should Buttigieg win the Democratic nomination, he would also become the first nominee of a major political party who publicly identifies as gay.

Platform: He supports raising the minimum wage and adopting a single-payer health care system or “Medicare-for-All.”