Pete Buttigieg, husband Chasten cover TIME magazine

Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten appear on the cover of this week's TIME magazine.

The profile, by Charlotte Alter, describes Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as the polar opposite of President Donald Trump.

"In many ways, Buttigieg is Trump's polar opposite: younger, dorkier, shorter, calmer and married to a man. His success may depend on whether Democrats want a fighter to match Trump, or whether Americans want to 'change the channel,' as Buttigieg puts it," Alter wrote.

Chasten came out to his parents after his senior year of high school. His parents at first rejected his sexuality and Chasten moved out for several months, crashing on friends' couches.

"His parents ultimately changed their minds, welcomed him back home and now fully support their son and his marriage," Alter wrote.

Alter describes their marriage as "at once banal and extraordinary."

"Chasten handles the dogs, the shopping, the cooking. Pete does the dishes, laundry and garbage. Chasten hates taking the bin out to the curb. Pete hates the way Chasten folds T-shirts. Chasten gets grumpy when they go too long without food, and Pete doesn't get it," she wrote, adding that Pete Buttigieg's solution is a handful of nuts.

"I want a meal, and he's like, 'Well just have a handful of nuts,'" Chasten said.

Buttigieg said that he came out publicly at the height of his re-election campaign because he wanted to date.

"He feared it would cost him re-election, but he won with 80% of the vote," Alter wrote.