Pete Buttigieg (D) announced that he will not seek a third term as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a move that is expected to presage his attempt to vault from local to presidential politics, the South Bend Tribune reports.

Washington Post: “Buttigieg would not be the first mayor to attempt such a jump — nor, likely, even the sole mayor in the 2020 Democratic presidential field. But he would put forth a distinct profile, as a 36-year-old former Rhodes scholar and Afghanistan veteran who is gay and married.”

Politico: “It’s not happenstance. Nor is keeping on Lis Smith, the hard-charging political operative who makes sure he’s constantly in the news. Or keeping up with Obama strategist David Axelrod, who recommended he hire Smith in the first place for the Democratic National Committee chair race that put him on Democrats’ radar last year. Or quietly building relationships over dinners and drinks with big-name Democrats, or courting national reporters, or wooing donors for his PAC, or digging in on political advertising research.”

“Buttigieg is getting closer to a presidential race. And serious people are telling the South Bend, Indiana mayor, who’d be the first major presidential candidate who’s either openly gay or an Afghanistan veteran or a millennial, to take it seriously.”