T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Field organizers Fernando Mello and Clare Magalaner get ready for the Saturday grand opening of Democratic hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign office at 30 W. Main St.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign will open its first field office in Marshalltown, 30 W. Main St., ahead of the caucuses in February 2020.

The grand opening will take place from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Campaign Manager Mike Schmuhl will be present to welcome guests and make remarks. People interested in attending can RSVP here: www.mobilize.us/iowaforpete/event/120083.

“Pete visited Marshalltown back in April and got a good response. He’s a mayor from the Midwest and a veteran, and the bold vision he’s laying out for the future is going to resonate there,” Communications Director Ben Halle said. “The office will serve as a home base, not only for our organizers in the area, but our supporters and volunteers. People can come by to hang out, make phone calls and talk about policy.”

This is part of the campaign’s post-Labor Day ramp up efforts. It will have nearly 100 staff on the ground in Iowa with the opening of 20 offices in 20 days, ahead of the Polk County Steak Fry slated for Sept. 21.

Buttigieg is a former U.S. Naval Reserve officer who served seven months in Afghanistan in 2014. He has been the mayor of South Bend, Indiana since 2012. He is also the first openly gay man to run for president of the United States, as well as the first Maltese-American to run for this office. A Rhodes Scholar, he speaks eight languages.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at

641-753-6611 or

sjordan@timesrepublican.com