Biden leads crowd in ‘Happy Birthday’ song for Buttigieg: ‘Pete turned 30 today’

President Biden on Friday continued a tradition he said came from first lady Jill Biden, by singing “Happy Birthday” to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during an event at the White House.

“Pete turned 30 today,” Biden quipped during the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, which drew a laugh from the crowd of mayors.

“My wife, she has a tradition in her family … and on everybody’s birthday, you’ve got to sing ‘Happy Birthday,'” he added. “So stand up and let’s sing ‘Happy Birthday.'”

Buttigieg, 42, is also the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. He stood in the front row during the song and walked to the podium after to shake the president’s hand and thank him for the special moment.

The serenade took place during the 92nd conference, which first started during the Great Depression, which ended Friday. To this day, according to the website, it is a forum “where mayors engage directly with the President and Congress on the most pressing issues of the day.”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, conference organizers touted the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by the president in 2021 and used a shaking hands emoji to introduce Buttigieg to the crowd of current mayors.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has funded nearly 40,000 projects across the country so far — once-in-a-generation investments that are rebuilding our aging infrastructure and creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs,” they wrote.

Buttigieg ran an unsuccessful White House campaign against Biden in 2020, and later endorsed him. While he has suggested that he still supports the president, he has yet to endorse his 2024 reelection bid.