Pete Buttigieg Declines to Run for Senate — Because He’s Eyeing the White House: Report

AP Photo/Matt Freed

Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will not run for Senate in 2026 — mostly because he’s got his eye on a bigger prize.

According to Politico, Buttigieg has ruled out a bid to join the upper chamber of Congress as the junior senator from Michigan after meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and weighing his options.

“His decision was framed by several allies and people in his inner circle as putting him in the strongest possible position to seek the presidency, and based on a belief it would be exceedingly difficult to run successive campaigns in 2026 and 2028,” according to Politico.

“Pete was an A-list recruit and would have been a formidable candidate for the Senate had he chosen to run,” famed Democratic strategist David Axelrod told the outlet. “But had he won in ’26, it would almost certainly have taken him out of the conversation for ’28. This certainly keeps that option open.”

Buttigieg previously mounted an longshot bid for the White House in 2020. He managed to win the most delegates in the Iowa Caucus (despite finishing with the second most votes) and tie Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in New Hampshire. He dropped out after finishing fourth in the South Carolina primary.

Prior to his confirmation as secretary of transportation in 2021, the highest title Buttigieg had ever held was mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

From Politico’s report on his future ambitions:

Now Buttigieg is eyeing another presidential run in 2028, a contest that sees him polling behind only his party’s most recent standard bearer, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is weighing a potential gubernatorial bid in California.

He also has maintained a robust fundraising network in the party, having raised more than $15 million for the Harris-Walz campaign last year.

If he runs for president, Buttigieg could be hampered by his involvement in an unpopular Biden administration. But there are other factors in the post-2024 landscape that could favor him. At a time when the Democratic Party is searching for new ways and places to reach voters, Buttigieg has long made those efforts central to his political project.

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