of a town in Indiana, South Bend.

And you're very popular, it would seem, by most polls,

but also, I think, people maybe living in New York

or across the country don't realize

that's a very diverse city that you represent.

-Yeah. -You've had some successes.

You've also had some issues with poverty, homelessness.

-Yeah. -What part of being a mayor

do you think is -- will sort of impose itself

on being the job of president the most?

-Well, I think what you learn when you're a mayor

is that your job is not only to come up with good policies,

also to run an administration capably,

but also just to hold people together

and to make sure that you're calling people

to their highest values.

I think that might be the part that we're most missing

in the White House right now.

And if we want to deal with our toughest issues,

we have to have that attitude.

So, in a place like South Bend,

still a largely low-income community

because of the departure of the auto industry

that started in the '60s,

we've been able to reduce poverty,

we've been able to put a lot of resources

into dealing with things like homelessness.

But you can't pretend that those problems have just gone away.

And I guess, you know, at the national level, you know,

the president thinks that when there's a problem,

you can just say the opposite and will it away,

whether it's North Korea or whether it's a domestic issue.

But when you're in a community, there are no alternative facts.

If there's a problem that persists from a hole in the road

to a homelessness issue,

you have to just continue calling people together

to work on it with you until it gets better.

-I wanted to ask about this, as well.

During your announcement,

you were onstage with your husband, Chasten.

And this must have been -- [ Cheers and applause ]

I mean, this is an incredible moment for anyone.

For anyone to be with their partner on that day

must be a special moment, but to think that

only four years ago, gay marriage was not legal,

did that day have a special,

even added element, to it for you?

-Yeah. If nothing else, it's just a reason to believe.

Even at this dark and complicated and bleak moment

in American politics, it's a reason to be hopeful.

I mean, running for office is an act of hope.

You don't do it unless you believe

that it's at least possible,

using all of the mechanics of the political system

to make better things happen.

And as somebody whose marriage exists

because nine women and men sat and took a vote,

and by the grace of one vote, we get to be married now.

I understand how the decisions that are made

in those big white buildings really affect our lives.

The idea that at the beginning of this decade, I had a choice.

I could either be out or I could be in the military.

I could either be out or I could run for elected office.

At least that's how I viewed it at the time.

And the idea that just a few years later,

I announced a campaign for the American presidency,

and my husband comes out on the stage to be with me

after I do it, just shows you what's possible in this country.

-It was a wonderful thing to watch.

[ Cheers and applause ]

This is mind-blowing to me. You --

You are the youngest person, as of now,

running for president, but more people are joining every day,

so don't... -You never know.

-Yeah, don't think you've got that one for life.

Also, Bernie Sanders is the oldest person

currently running for president.

When you were 18 years old,

you won an essay in 2000, writing about Bernie Sanders.

-Yes. -And there you wore --

That's a -- I would call that a high school cut.

[ Laughter ]

-Thank you for sharing that photo with the American people.

I really appreciate that. [ Laughter ]

-But it must be surreal to you now to --

Obviously, Bernie was someone who was influential to you

back then, to be sort of in the same sphere as him now.

-Yeah. I mean, I wrote that essay --

I feel like someone who claims to have discovered

a band before they were cool. [ Laughter ]

He was an obscure Congressman from Vermont,

and I just thought there was something really compelling

about the way he said what he believed at a time

when it didn't feel like we had a lot of that in politics.

So I wrote it up, and I won that essay contest.

It is a little strange to be competing with him now,

but frankly, a lot of the people I'm competing with

are people I admire. I'm not --

I don't view this process right now as having opponents

as much as it has competitors.

And we can have a lot in common, at the same time,

have rather different messages

and be very different messengers.

-My favorite thing about it is,

it sounds like a way he could burn you.

Like, "I was a congressman

when you were writing essays about me!"

[ Laughter and applause ]

That would probably be the way he would say it

if he also was being nice about it.

[ Both laugh ]

This is a photo that went around.

Again, you're running for president,

but you're still doing your duties as mayor.

Tell us what's happening in this photo right here.

-Oh, yeah. This is a really fun one.

So, I got to the office early, which is rare.

I was knocking out some work.

I stepped out into the hallway to use the bathroom,

and the elevator opened, and this couple turned up

and said, "Mayor!" This is exactly

the kind of moment that my staff tries to avoid, right?

That I'm alone, you know,

interacting with people accosting me, wanting something.

But, like, when you're mayor,

you have to have time for everybody.

-Sure. -And, you know,

I was trying to be polite by letting them know

I didn't have a lot of time,

and then they explained why they were there.

She was on her way to get a C-section at 9:00.

This must've been about 8:15.

And she said, "I want to tell mom all the news at once,

so we were wondering if you could marry us."

-Wow. -So, I thought,

"Wait. I can make time for that."

[ Laughter ]

So we came into the office.

I found a staff member who found some ribbon.

They hadn't had time to get a ring,

so we took ribbon and made a little --

made little rings out of it, and I knocked out, you know,

"By the powers vested in me, by the state of Indiana..."

knocked out the wedding in about 20 minutes,

and then sent them on their way to the hospital.

And later, we got a picture of them with a really healthy kid,

and we're just so happy for them.

-That's fantastic. [ Cheers and applause ]

I also like -- I like that an Indiana mayor's office

does look like the set of "Parks and Recreation."

[ Laughter ] I do -- I do enjoy that.

Definitely, he's wearing Andy costume right there.

[ Laughter ]

Hey, everybody, that's mayor Pete Buttigieg.