America’s first openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg has reached his goal for campaign donations, meaning he’s officially secured an invite to the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) first debate for potential candidates in the 2020 presidential election .

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) requires a minimum of 65,000 individual donors in order for a candidate to be invited to the debate stage happening in June.

A spokesman with the Pete for America Exploratory Committee says, “We are building a community that believes in this bold vision for the future, and there are tens of thousands of people (75,025 to be exact) around the country who invested because they believe a Midwestern, millennial, war veteran, mayoral voice should be part of the conversation.”

Buttigieg the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana brimming with Midwestern authenticity, sincerity, and intelligence captured a large portion of CNN’s audience earlier this month in his first nationally televised town hall.

GO MAYOR PETE! – Pete for America!

Thanks to you, we hit the @TheDemocrats 65,000 donor goal in order to be invited to the first debate. But we are going to need to raise a lot more money to compete. pic.twitter.com/SCOAZ20UuG— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) March 16, 2019