For over a month, there’s been chatter as to whether former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will run for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, with current Democratic Sen. Gary Peters having announced he’s retiring. Earlier on Thursday, POLITICO announced that Buttigieg is declining to run. Buttigieg himself shared his plans in a thread over X as well.
"I care deeply about who Michigan will elect as Governor and send to the U.S. Senate next year, but I have decided against competing in either race," Buttigieg began right away by mentioning. Current Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited. "I remain enthusiastic about helping candidates who share our values - and who understand that in this moment, leadership means not only opposing today’s cruel chaos, but also presenting a vision of a better alternative," he went on to say, using a common refrain from the left about this supposed "chaos."
The next post indicated he may run for president in 2028. "While my own plans don’t include running for office in 2026, I remain intensely focused on consolidating, communicating, and supporting a vision for this alternative," the next post mentioned.
While my own plans don’t include running for office in 2026, I remain intensely focused on consolidating, communicating, and supporting a vision for this alternative.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) March 13, 2025
The decisions made by elected leaders matter entirely because of how they shape our everyday lives - and the…
Buttigieg also included a link to his Substack, further hinting at another kind of run, with a title of "I'm Not Running in 2026, But I Am Getting to Work."
The piece rants some more about that supposed "chaos" and takes digs at the Trump administration, though it also segues into several paragraphs indicating that Buttigieg may still be seeking higher office:
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Today, our country is demonstrably less free, less secure, less democratic - and less prosperous - than it was just ten weeks ago. Yet the answer is not to revert to yesterday’s inadequate status quo. Rather, it is time to show how better future-facing choices about our government and society can make us all freer, safer, more empowered - and more prosperous. This moment requires us to relentlessly commit to what we value most, and ruthlessly lay aside whatever could divide us or distract us from this vitally important focus. An opposition only has depth when, alongside all that it stands against, it presents people with a vision of a better future, the one that they are missing out on because of the leaders now in power.
It's worth mentioning that as Buttigieg speaks more about Michigan, where he now leaves, this is a key midwestern swing state. President Donald Trump won the state last November, as he did in 2016. Further, Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin only narrowly defeated Republican Mike Rogers for that open seat.
POLITICO has more on a potential 2028 run:
Pete Buttigieg is expected to announce Thursday he will not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat, according to a person briefed on his decision, clearing a path for a potential presidential campaign instead.
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.
...
As he considers a run, he’s started to become more visible in recent days, something a person familiar with his strategy said will continue. In the last week alone, he joined “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” hosted a Bluesky ask-me-anything and an Instagram chat with Paul Rieckhoff, an independent veteran advocate and host of a weekly news show. The two talked about Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
“We need you now more than ever,” Rieckhoff, who spoke about Buttigieg running for president, told Buttigieg.
Buttigieg ran in the Democratic primary for president in 2020, winning the Iowa Caucus. He was later nominated by Biden to lead the Transportation Department, a truly puzzling pick if not for the Biden-Harris administration's obsession with equity hires. It was during Buttigieg's tenure in the role, while he was on paternity leave, that the United States suffered a major supply chain crisis. Since he's been out of that role, Buttigieg has taken to criticizing his successor, Secretary Sean Duffy.
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