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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg—who served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020—is set to announce that he will not seek an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, a move that leaves the door wide open for him to seek a much bigger role as his party’s next presidential nominee.
Since his role in the Biden administration ended in late January, Buttigieg has spent months considering his next move, including a serious look at the unexpectedly open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, where he relocated in in 2022. But many prominent allies he consulted believed he could not realistically pursue the Senate seat while keeping the door open for a 2028 presidential run.
Buttigieg is expected to announce later Thursday he will not seek Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, according to a person familiar with his plans who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. The news was first reported by Politico.
While Buttigieg’s decision could weaken Democrats’ chances of retaining a critical Senate seat in 2026, it might also strengthen the party’s search for new national leadership to counter President Donald Trump. Buttigieg’s announcement comes one day after New Hampshire Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced she will not seek re-election next year.
Buttigieg first ran for president in 2020 and outperformed far more experienced Democrats in the Iowa presidential caucuses. He later dropped out of the presidential race and was chosen by Biden to be his U.S. transportation secretary.
Widely regarded as one of the party’s most effective communicators, Buttigieg boasts a massive social media following, a national donor network, and a Midwestern appeal that resonates both in Fox News Channel interviews and more intimate settings. Now living in Traverse City, Michigan, Buttigieg has been rapidly building connections in his new home state—a key swing state and a likely host of one of the nation’s first presidential primaries.
Buttigieg’s decision not to run for Michigan’s Senate seat leaves the race wide open to replace Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who unexpectedly announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection in 2026. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow has been preparing a bid, while U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens is also considering a run.
A Republican hasn’t been elected to the U.S. Senate in Michigan this century, although Mike Rogers came within less than 1 percentage point last fall and is planning to run again.
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A blessing for people of Michigan and the rest of the United States.
Pete is a joke.
Well, at least he can talk and isn’t interested in hucking Tezlurs on the White House lawn.
Good to know. A wise decision on Pete’s part. He’s pretty savvy, though it’s obvious that even the tiniest of gestures is a calculated political move. He’s probably been hard-wired this way since he was a teenager.
A run for US Senate in MI would be about as much carpet-baggery as Liz Cheney’s attempt to pretend she was a scion of the Equality State when she ran successfully for Wyoming’s one and only US Representative, after moving there less than a year earlier. (And then suffered a historic defeat when she failed to represent them in her second term.)
Or–even worse–Hillary Clinton’s also successful attempt to curry favor with the Empire State–one that loves its Dems–when she successfully ran for US Senator in New York. Again, she had no real connection but she stuck with it through most of the 2000s, which is a comparatively short run for a senator.
So Pete “relocated in recent years” to Michigan? How long ago is recent? Wasn’t he supposedly Secretary of Transportation until January? I mean, I get why he wouldn’t deign return to the Hoosier State; he doesn’t stand a chance of aligning his politics with Indiana at the state level. But his oh-shucks golly-gee Midwestern persona (did he have the same acting coach as Tim Walz?) would make him potentially viable in a blue or purple Midwestern state, both of which are dwindling in number but Michigan still fits the bill. Is that why he chose summer resort town Traverse City?
Something tells me, though, if he were desperate for a relatively high-profile political position (as he obviously is) that he could gallivant right into Indianapolis, run for mayor, and win in a landslide.