First Pete Buttigieg Bobblehead Unveiled

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has unveiled the first bobblehead of United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020, earning him the nickname "Mayor Pete." This marks the first bobblehead featuring a United States Secretary of Transportation.

The limited-edition bobblehead ($25) was produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum and released on National Bobblehead Day.

The smiling Buttigieg bobblehead is dressed in a dark suit and blue tie and standing with his hands in his pockets on a circular stars-and-stripes base bearing his name. Each bobblehead is individually numbered up to 2,021 to commemorate the year Buttigieg became the Secretary of Transportation.

When Buttigieg was sworn into office as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in February 2021 at age 39, it only added to his impressive list of accomplishments. A graduate of Harvard and Oxford, speaker of seven languages, and a Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg was also a Navy lieutenant who saw combat in Afghanistan. Elected mayor of his hometown of South Bend, Indiana, at age 29, "Mayor Pete" served for eight years before shifting his focus to national politics.

Launching his presidential campaign on April 14, 2019, Buttigieg became the first out person to seek the Democratic nomination for president. In the 2020 Democratic Party primaries, he narrowly won the Iowa Caucuses and placed second in New Hampshire. Secretary Buttigieg, who campaigned on health care and infrastructure reform, became the first out presidential Cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate for his Cabinet post. He has been married to Chasten Glezman Buttigieg since 2018.

"The great thing about public service is that you have an opportunity to deliver," Buttigieg said in a February 2021 interview. "If you do a good job, nobody cares how old you are, nobody cares if you're gay. Nobody cares about anything in your life so much as you're making their lives better."

"We are excited to release the first bobblehead of Pete Buttigieg on National Bobblehead Day," National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. "While he is currently the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, he will always be known as 'Mayor Pete' to the people in his hometown of South Bend, Indiana."

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, located at 170 S. 1st St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened to the public on February 1, 2019.