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Pete Buttigieg calls for 'joy' — not a 're-run of some TV wrestling death match'

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
Chip Somodevilla
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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.


Before a cheering crowd, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg homed in on the theme of “joy” that the Harris campaign has been leaning into.

“The makeup of my kitchen table, the existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago when an anxious teenager growing up in Indiana wondered if he would ever find belonging in this world,” he said.

He called for “better politics” and an end to Trump’s “politics of darkness.”

“I don’t presume to know what goes on in your kitchen, but I know as sure as I am standing here that everything in it, the bills you pay, the shape of the family that sits there, the fears and the dreams that you talk about late into the night compel us to demand more from our politics than a re-run of some TV wresting death match,” he said.

Watch his full remarks:


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Ximena Bustillo
Ximena Bustillo is a multi-platform correspondent at NPR covering politics and policy in Washington related to DHS and immigration.
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