Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will not run for Senate in 2026.
According to Politico, Buttigieg has ruled out a bid to run for Senate in 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.
The former South Bend mayor previously mounted a longshot bid for the White House in 2020 before suspending his campaign after finishing fourth in the South Carolina primary.
“Pete was an A-list recruit and would have been a formidable candidate for the Senate had he chosen to run,” famed Democrat 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.”
From Politico’s report:
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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That is such good news. Hope his political career is finished now.