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The schoolteacher husband of presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is quickly becoming the favorite - over the spouses of senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand - in the race to become America’s first ‘First Gent’ in 2021. 

Chasten Buttigieg, 29, whose husband Pete has suddenly taken the Democratic primary race by storm - would become both the youngest and first openly gay president if he succeeds.

And if the past couple of weeks is anything to go by, the former Chasten Glezman is the one to watch as his husband is soaring in the polls, looking a better bet to take on Donald Trump next year than any of the quartet of female senators who have declared.  

Buttigieg, the two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has caught fire with Democratic voters and raised $7million the first quarter of his long-shot campaign. He is now beating not only Warren, Klobuchar and Gillibrand in the polls, but also such high-profile male candidates as Beto O'Rourke, Cory Booker and Joaquin Castro.

Only two men — Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, both more than twice his age — topped Buttigieg, 37, in last week's Emerson Poll of likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa.

And in a Quinnipiac national poll the Naval Reservist, who served a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan two years into his first mayoral term, soared to fourth behind just Biden, Sanders and Harris.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg (right) is one of the latest Democrats to enter the 2020 presidential fray, but it's his husband Chasten Buttigieg who is leading the race in most popular candidate for 'First Gent'

The couple are newlyweds, marrying in the Episcopalian Cathedral of St. James in South Bend, Indiana, on June 16, 2018. Pete would also become the first Episcopalian president 

Chasten's quirky tweets about adjusting to life in the public eye have thrust him into the spotlight, making him a favorite prospective 'First Gent'

The Twitter humor of Chasten, a middle school teacher who is now director of curriculum at the South Bend Civic Theater, is being touted as much of the reason for Buttigieg's success.

'Chasten Buttigieg Is Winning the 2020 Spouse Primary,' blared a headline in Politico, which described him as 'a father of dogs, a Harry Potter fan, a theater geek, an enamored husband with a knack for choosing the right GIF' and in some circles, a 'folk hero.'

The South Bend Mayor raised an astonishing $7million in the first quarter of his long-shot presidential campaign

'Can one of the debates be an improv show?' Chasten asked, tongue-in-cheek on March 24.

Four days earlier he tweeted about having to adapt to a more public life. 'This new exposure can be very weird, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to teenagers taking pictures of me and then running away giggling when I look up and see them pointing their phones at me.

'This is why I can no longer smell deodorants at Target. They're always watching.'

Chasten also posts little snippets of how life has changed since Pete became a serious presidential candidate. 'Live from the Buttigieg household where one is on their second phone interview and the other is still trying to find his slippers...' he wrote at 5.19am last Wednesday.

During a tour of South Carolina, he wrote: 'Peter: Crushing townhalls in SC. Chasten: staring out the window waiting for UberEats.'

Chasten did not respond to requests for comment on this article.

He recognized his sexuality early and came out when he was 18, much earlier that candidate Buttigieg who waited until 2015 when he wrote a newspaper article just as the Supreme Court was deciding whether same-sex marriage should be legalized nationwide.

'I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay,' the mayor wrote in the South Bend Tribune. 'It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it's just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am.

'Being gay has had no bearing on my job performance in business, in the military, or in my current role as mayor,' he added.

'It makes me no better or worse at handling a spreadsheet, a rifle, a committee meeting, or a hiring decision. It doesn't change how residents can best judge my effectiveness in serving our city: by the progress of our neighborhoods, our economy, and our city services,' he added.

The couple live in this white-columned, four-bedroom house overlooking the St. Joseph River in South Bend's historical district. Pete bought the home for a steal at $125,000 at the depth of the housing bust in 2009

Pete and Chasten had their first date over beer and bonded over Scotch eggs at Fiddler's Hearth Pub (pictured) in South Bend, Indiana after meeting online in 2015 

President Obama name-dropped Buttigieg, along with others, during a 2016 interview when asked who he sees as the future of the Democratic Party. The couple are pictured with Obama 

Chasten is the youngest of three brothers brought up in a conservative family in Traverse City, Michigan. His father, Terry, runs a landscaping business.

When he came out he left home. 'I don't recall my parents specifically saying I couldn't live at home anymore, but I was made to believe I needed to leave,' he told the New York Times last year.

Chasten, a middle school teacher who is now director of curriculum at the South Bend Civic Theater, is being touted as much of the reason for Buttigieg's success

His mother Sherri told the Times: 'I don't want to say we were shocked. But, from our perspective, I was sad for him that, having two brothers that were into every sport, as roughneck as it comes, Chasten would be afraid of being perceived as different, or not as much of a man.'

He went to Chicago to get a Masters Degree in Education, earning money as a substitute teacher in Illinois public schools.

Pete and Chasten Buttigieg (pronounced Boot Edge Edge) would be the first First Couple to meet over the Internet. ‘I met him through this app called Hinge,’ said Pete. ‘As soon as I saw his picture, I saw something in his eyes. I said “I gotta meet this guy.” And then I did.

They had a lengthy courtship consisting of Facetime chats before bonding over a Scotch egg on their first date in the Fiddler’s Hearth Irish pub in South Bend in 2015.

‘Frankly, he’s one of the best things I’ve got going for me. I love him. He’s grounded. He keeps me grounded,’ Pete told CNN;’s Van Jones. 

Pete admitted that being the mayor in a blue-collar city of only 100,000 people made dating difficult. He told the New York Times that his then-aim was to date 'a little outside the television viewing area of South Bend.'

On that first date, Chasten asked whether his new potential love interest played any musical instruments. Pete told him he had performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on piano with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.

The response, Chasten admitted on Twitter, made him spit his beer on the table. In its review of the 2013 concert, the South Bend Tribune said Buttigieg had 'acquitted himself well as he executed the piece's difficult fast passages with technical precision, although technique sometimes took precedence over expressiveness.'

They married in the Episcopalian Cathedral of St. James in South Bend on June 16 last year.

The couple adopted Truman and Buddy, their rescue dogs. Truman (left) was adopted in 2017 and Buddy, a one-eyed puggle, followed late last year

Mayor Pete touts his diversity as a white man, telling an audience in Iowa: 'This is the only chance you'll ever get to vote for a Maltese-American, left-handed, Episcopalian, gay, war veteran, mayor, millennial'. Chasten came out to his family at 18, while candidate Buttigieg waited until 2015

The couple live in a white-columned, four-bedroom house overlooking the St. Joseph River in South Bend's historical district, that Pete bought for a bargain-basement $125,000 at the depth of the housing bust in 2009.

It is just around the corner from the house where he grew up, the son of two professors at Notre Dame University. His mom, Anne, still lives there. His dad Joseph, who immigrated from the Mediterranean island of Malta, died in January.

Pete and Chasten share their home with Truman and Buddy, their rescue dogs, both of whom have a huge social media following. Truman, born in Kentucky, was adopted in 2017 and Buddy, a one-eyed puggle, followed late last year.

So can Truman and Buddy join the long list of presidential pets, following in the pawprints of Bo and Sunny Obama, Barney Bush and Socks Clinton? 

Or is Pete Buttigieg's 2020 quest for the White House doomed, like those of dozens of candidates who promised so much but burned out in the white-hot glare of the primaries?

'This is the only chance you'll ever get to vote for a Maltese-American, left-handed, Episcopalian, gay, war veteran, mayor, millennial,' he told an audience in Davenport, Iowa.

And, for a white man, that ticks as many Democratic boxes as possible.   

OTHERS VYING TO BE THE FIRST 'FIRST GENT' 

Doug Emhoff

Emhoff, 54, is just one week older than his wife, California senator Kamala Harris. He is a partner at the Los Angeles law firm DLA Piper where he specializes in entertainment and intellectual property law. According to his company's website, Emhoff 'represents large domestic and international corporations and some of today's highest profile individuals and influencers in complex business, real estate and intellectual property litigation disputes.' He and Harris met on a blind date in 2013 and were married in August the following year. It was Harris's first marriage and Emhoff's second, he has a son, Cole, and a daughter, Ella — who are said to call their stepmother S-Mamala. Emhoff jokes that since his marriage one of his main roles is acting as sous chef to Harris, a noted cook. 'She spends days thinking about the menu, grinding her own pepper, driving all over town just to find that one ingredient that we need,' he told Vogue. 

Bruce Mann

Mann, 68, would be the oldest first spouse in history. He is already older than the current record holder, Bess Truman, was on her last day in the White House. He is the second husband of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he married in 1980. Warren — whose maiden name is Herring — decided to keep her first husband's surname rather than change it to that of her second. Mann is a professor at Harvard Law School. His Wikipedia page says he 'focuses on the relationship among legal, social, and economic change in early America.' The two met at a law conference in Florida. 'I saw this woman talking to someone, and I was just captivated,' he told the Boston Globe. Soon after, Warren proposed to him. They were married in 1980, two years after Warren's divorce. He is happy to play second fiddle to his hard-charging wife. 'I'm usually introduced as Elizabeth's husband, which has been fine with me,' he says.

John Bessler

Bessler, 51, is a leading authority on capital punishment and has written five books on the subject. He has been married for 26 years to Minnesota senator — and former prosecutor — Amy Klobuchar, and together they have one daughter, Abigail, 24. Bessler is a lawyer and professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He met Klobuchar in a pool hall and proposed to her in the non-fiction aisle of the Hungry Mind bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota. According to her Facebook page on their 20th anniversary, their wedding included a canoe trip for guests and 'a discounted cake from a bakery in the St. Paul bus depot.' Bessler has gotten used to being married to a high-flying senator. He claims to be the only male member of the Senate Spouse Club and his wife tells a story about how she once quizzed him when she saw him leaving home with a large pink box. 'I'm going to (former Virginia senator) Jim Webb's wife's baby shower,' he told her.

Jonathan Gillibrand

Gillibrand would be the second first spouse in a row — and the third in total — to be born outside North America. He hails from England and came to New York to study for an MBA at Columbia University, intending to stay for just a year. But that changed as soon as he met the three-years-older Kirsten Rutnik on a blind date. They hit it off immediately. 'I thought he was one of the nicest and kindest people I'd ever met. That's what charmed me,' Kirsten told Vogue. They married in 2001 and have two sons, Theodore and Henry. Gillibrand, 49, is a venture capitalist in New York. In a 2013 interview with New York Family his wife said they had very different parenting skills for their children, who were then nine and four. 'I'm a very encouraging parent. I like to let my children express themselves and explore new things…. I'm very focused on letting them learn by doing. Jonathan is very focused on academics and reading.'

Abraham Williams

Williams married long-shot candidate, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, in a Vedic ceremony conducted by a Hindu priest in 2015. It was his first marriage, her second. They had known each other for years but sparks didn't fly until Williams, a cinematographer who worked on Gabbard's first campaign for Congress in 2012, asked her out while at her birthday party. 'As we got to know each other, we realized how much we actually had in common. We went for a long walk on our first date, and ended up at a pickup volleyball game,' she told The New York Times. Williams, now 30, is seven years younger than his wife. He proposed off the south shore of Oahu where the couple were surfing. 'The sun was just about to dip under the horizon' she told the Times. 'He paddled over, pulled out a double-tethered contraption attached to a gold duct-tape-covered flotation device, with a beautiful ring attached, and said, 'I have a question for you: "Will you marry me?"'