Pete Buttigieg made $75K on his book deal, but owes much more in student loans, disclosure finds

Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg has lots of student loan debt and received a $75,000 advance for his political memoir, according to financial documents he filed this week.

Those details were part of an annual personal financial disclosure form that candidates must submit within 30 days of filing a president candidacy, which Buttigieg officially announced April 14. IndyStar obtained the document through a records request Wednesday, the day after he filed the form.

Buttigieg, of course, lists his occupation as mayor of South Bend. His annual income for running the state’s fourth-largest city is $149,725, according to the document.

Buttigieg also plays the stock market. He and his husband Chasten, have invested as much as $50,000 in Apple, and up to $15,000 in Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google. Income on those was between $2,702 and $6,000.

Buttigieg also disclosed somewhere between $4,004 and $62,000 in various other stock funds and listed income of $2,702 to $6,800.

Much has been made of Buttigieg’s education. After all, he graduated from Harvard and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. 

The documents revealed some detail about the price. He listed student loans, somewhere between $140,004 and $360,000 over the next 25 years. The interest rates range from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

A spokesman said the loans include Chasten Buttigieg’s education. He has a master’s from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin.

2020 Democratic presidential candidate South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during a town hall meeting on April 16, 2019, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. (Photo: Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)

And about that book deal. The disclosure form includes an attachment that notes Buttigieg agreed to a $75,000 advance from Liveright Publishing Corp., June 15, 2017, on his New York Times-bestselling political memoir, “Shortest Way Home.” Interestingly, his working title, abandoned at some point along the way, was “Letters from Flyover Country.” 

That’s not to be confused with an essay he wrote shortly after the 2016 presidential election, “A Letter from Flyover Country,” which focused on how Democrats could succeed in Middle America.

He also has the opportunity to make royalties on his book based on sales, but it’s unclear when those kick in.

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He’s received $3,000 for an audio version through Recorded Books Inc. It’s unclear how much more, if any, he might make on that portion of the deal.

The disclosure also notes he’s on the boards of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, with which he’s known to occasionally play piano, the South Bend Education Foundation, Veterans Community Connections and Accelerate Indiana Municipalities, which is Indiana’s city and towns advocacy group. He lists no income from those volunteer positions.

The form notes his husband, Chasten, left his job at Montessori Academy in Mishawaka, Indiana, in January, and continues to work part-time at the South Bend Civic Theatre. No income data is provided. 

Follow Chris Sikich on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.

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