Pete Buttigieg Said that he is considering a run for the Senate next year in his adopted home state Michigan.
“I looked at it,” acknowledged the former Ministry of Transport and the former presidential candidate in his last interview, while pointing to the rising race to succeed Sen. Gary Peters. The two -mine democrat announced in January that he will not seek re -election in 2026.
“I will continue to work on the things I care about,” Buttigieg van when he appeared on Tuesday evening on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Buttigiegeg emphasized: “I did not decide what that means professional, or that means that you are going to the office quickly or not. But I will make myself useful.”
Why Pete Buttigieg he met with this top democrat
The then secretary of Transport Pete Buttigieg speaks during a press conference in Long Beach, California, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Tim Rue)
In a sign of how seriously he is considering a senate campaign in the crucial Great Lakes Battleground State, confirmed a source that was familiar with Fox News that Buttigieg met Senate Minority Leader last week Chuck Schumer van New York, the old leader of the Democrats of the Chamber.
The 43-year-old Buttigieg, a former Navy Inlay Officer who was deployed in Afghanistan in the war and who served for eight years as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was a candidate for a long shot when he launched his 2020 Presidential campaign.
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But his campaign caught fire, and he brought Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and the caucuses of Iowa before he was second in the Sanders in the New Hampshire Presidential primary. But Buttigieg V, together with the rest of the democratic field, stopped from the race and Joe Biden ended the then vice-president the South Carolina Primary in a landslide, wiping the Super Tuesday competitions and eventually won the nomination before won the White House.
The Millennial Democrat, who served the transport secretary of Biden for four years, has held popularity within the Democratic party as one of the younger stars.
Follow-up transport secretary Pete Buttigieg focuses on the Democratic National Convention in the United Center, in Chicago on August 21, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Fresh)
Buttigieg In recent months it has been emphasized that he wants to remain involved. In a radio interview in December by the end of his term of office as a transport secretary, he said: “I will find ways to make myself useful, and perhaps that is in the office, and perhaps that is not. I will take that in the coming weeks and months to continue working.”
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And shortly after Peters had unveiled in January, he would not seek re -election, a source that was familiar with the thinking of Buttigieg against Fox News Digital: “Pete investigates all his options about how he can and continues to be useful … He is honored to be called for this, and he takes a serious look.”
After his presidential presidential campaign of 2020, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, from Red-State Indiana moved to neighboring Michigan, And have a house in Traverse City.
Buttigieg is not the only democrat that is doing well to follow Peters.
Senator Gary Peters by Michigan is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, on August 19, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Senator Mallory McMorrow will probably launch a democratic campaign. McMorrow attracted national attention in 2022 after giving a floor speech in the Senate of Michigan who was seen as a model for combating GOP attacks.
Among the other Democrats who have shown interest in walking are two-time Michigan attorney-general Dana Nesse and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mi.
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Former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-MI, announced at the end of January that he “Sterkwits” a second consecutive Republican Run for the Senate in Michigan.
Rogers won the GOP -SENAT Nomination from 2024 in Michigan, but narrowly lost in Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the candidate of the Democrats, in the election last November in the race to follow the old Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who retired. Slotkin, which Rogers spends enormously, cast him with around 19,000 votes, or a third of one percentage point.
The Republican Senate candidate of Michigan, former Rep. Mike Rogers, speaks during a campaign field on Monday, November 4, 2024 in Flint, Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Rogers is a former FBI special agent who later served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during his term of office.
While Rogers was the first Republican who publicly took a step towards the launch of a senate campaign from 2026 in Michigan, Gop -Source last month told Fox News that others could consider running rep. John James are – who is in the house in his second term and is the Gop Senate nominated in Michigan in 2018 and 2020 – and is a long time representative. Bill Huizenga.
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Michigan’s senate race is considered by the non -party -related political handicapper as a “up” Cook the political report.
The Republicans are currently checking the Senate 53-47, after throwing four seats from blue to red in the elections of last November.
The power party – clearly the Republicans at the moment – is traditionally confronted with political headwind in the interim elections. Nevertheless, an early reading of the 2026 card indicates that the GOP may be able to attack in some important states.
Together with Michigan, the Republicans will also focus on Georgia Battlefield, where the first-term democratic senator Jon Ossoff is considered vulnerable.
And in Swing State New Hampshire, the old Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen still has to say if she will look for a different term in the Senate when she is re -election next year.
And De Gop looks at Blue-Leaning Minnesota, where Democratic Senator Tina Smith announced last month that she would not seek re-election in 2026.
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But Republicans also play defense in the 2026 cycle.
Democrats are planning to surpass Maine leaning in the blue, where moderate Gop senator Susan Collins re-election is, as well as in BattreGound North Carolina, where Republican Senator Thom Tillis also rose in 2026.
And Democrats look at red leaning Ohio, where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted In January it was appointed to succeed vice-president JD Vance in the Senate. Husted is running next year to finish the period from Vance.
Julia Johnson from Fox News has contributed to this report
