I Have Something to Tell You

I was so excited to see the book pop up on my kindle shortly after midnight. I thought I’d read a few pages before going to sleep, but I just couldn’t stop reading. I keep wanting to read just a little more to hear Chasten’s tale on the campaign and life. I admit I fell in love with Chasten the first time I met him at an event in April 2019 in Des Moines IA. I was able to speak to Chasten while waiting for Pete to work his way around the crowd. We talked about teaching, I have a son who is a teacher, we talked about military service, two of my sons serve in the Guard and Reserve, we talked about another son’s coming out story. I told him how exciting it was to me as a mother that finally we had a candidate that represented my family, one that I trusted to shape the world my sons live in. I love him even more for how he tells his story from the heart. We are so fortunate to have Chasten sharing his story and his views. He is as genuine in the book as in real life, to read how he wants to make schools and the world safe and loving for kids who feel they don’t belong, is so heartwarming. I love this book, it is like sitting across the table chatting over coffee. As a volunteer for Pete’s campaign in Iowa I was fortunate to have opportunities to speak to both Pete and Chasten and get to know them, I am excited that so many more people will now have that same opportunity. Chasten is warm, loving and approachable. I am so grateful knowing he will be shaping the world my sons and grandchildren live in. I am so excited for more people to get to know this wonderful young man and his story. What a pleasure to hear how Chasten became this wonderful real man. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, becoming real is about being loved and having some fur loved off along the way. Thank you Chasten for sharing your story and giving so many people hope. Thank you for telling us.

Deeply personal, refreshingly honest, and also funny – Chasten Buttigieg recalls his life from a rural northern Michigan 4-H kid to husband of the first out gay candidate, who won the Iowa caucus and became a national political figure. Along the way, we sympathize with Chastens struggles coming out first to himself and then to his family – and then further struggling to put himself through college as the first member of his family to accomplish it. Along the way he finds both heartbreak and romance – and finally a certain young mayor from South Bend. Together they navigate a relationship, being an out couple in politics, and a stunningly run for President. Chastens experiences on the campaign trail are both funny and revealing – showing us an America where homophobia and hope both exist.

So many young people will see themselves in these pages – especially LGBTQ youth who wonder if there is a safe and affirming place for them, or even a future in more conservative areas. As a political junkie, I enjoyed the campaign stories and observations, especially Chastens reflections on some of the more controversial issues a gay couple faced. And, of course, the inside stories about Pete.

Chasten is both a humorous, conversational writer and a deeply moving one. This is a highly original and different sort of spouse of a candidate memoir. Its both groundbreaking history and affirming for members of the LGBTQ community. Highly recommended.

Beautifully written in a conversational style, reading this felt like reading a letter from a close friend. Chasten takes us through his life growing up in Michigan, realizing he was different, and trying to accept himself while navigating a confusing and painful world of adolescence. He shares his journey of trying to achieving his goal of graduating college, accumulating a mountain of debt, and all the woes of dating. The reader walks with Chasten and Pete on their first date, follows their budding romance and eventually marriage, and is then swept away by the hurried pace of campaign life. “I Have Something To Tell You” is touching, heartbreaking, funny, and poignant and the stories will keep you engaged from start to end. For anyone who has wanted to hear Chasten’s story, in his own words, pull up a chair… He has something to tell you.

My copy arrived today. I pre-ordered the book because Im already a huge Chasten Buttigieg fan. I had no idea, however, that his book would pull me in and not let me go. Chastens story is powerful, his writing is honest and vulnerable, and from the first page I was drawn in and affected by this beautiful book.

After waiting eagerly all summer for this books publication, I devoured it in just 48 hours. It met and exceeded my expectations written with honesty and openness that drew me in while forming a sense of genuine connection with the author. After a challenging youth and early adulthood, Chasten deserves the love and stability that he has found in his marriage to Pete Buttigieg. I finished reading this book with a lump in my throat, and with an expectation of big, important things awaiting this couple. I loved this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who still holds out belief and hope in goodness and decency in this world and for this country.

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