Joe Biden’s transport secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to reports, is expected to announce that he will not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat making it the strongest hint so far that he’s eyeing the presidential bid for 2028. Politico reported that his allies and the people in his inner circle have been pushing him as the strongest candidate for the presidential run and as it would be difficult for him to run for senate in 2026 and then for the president in 2028, he has been advised to give up on the Senate bid.
Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend became a Michigan resident in 2020 and moved to Traverse City where he lives with his husband Chasten and their twins.
CNN reported that Buttigieg was calling fellow Michigan Democrats on Thursday morning to tell them of his decision as he’s expected to go public about his announcement — that he would not contest in the Senate — later today.
Following the retirement announcement by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in late January, an adviser to Buttigieg told CNN he was taking a “serious look” at a Senate campaign. Buttigieg previously ruled out running for governor of Michigan next year, a source familiar with this thinking told CNN last month. The state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is term-limited from running again and is also seen as a potential 2028 contender.
Buttigieg ran the 2020 presidential campaign being the youngest candidate in the 2020 primary race. He won the most delegates in the Iowa caucuses and tying with Bernie Sanders for the most delegates in the New Hampshire primary. Eventually, Buttigied dropped out of the race and endorsed Joe Biden for president.
In 2018, Buttigieg married Chasten whom he met on Hinge in 2015. A schoolteacher and a writer, Chasten will release a children’s book ‘Papa’s Coming Home’.