The last time Buttigieg held political office was when he was mayor of South Bend, back in 2020, before he became transportation secretary for President Biden. He has now moved to blue-state Michigan, where he stands a better chance of a political future than red-state Indiana, but is not running for a U.S. Senate seat there.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, says Buttigieg will have trouble running for office no matter where he lives.
“The problem he has is the Biden record is so terrible, and he was such a big part of it, that I don't see how he gets away from Biden and Harris and his record,” Clark says.
In the radical Democratic Party, the main attraction for Buttigieg in the Biden administration was he is an open homosexual.
After adopting a baby with his partner, Buttigieg’s most embarrassing experience as transportation secretary was a six-week “paternity leave” when the newborn came home from the hospital. At the time, however, the U.S. was facing a supply chain crisis and empty store shelves when hundreds of container ships were stacked up in the L.A. harbor.
Buttigieg put down the baby bottle only after a Politico story reported he had been absent from his job for more than a month. He later claimed he had been “available 24/7,” which wasn’t true according to news stories.
Buttigieg has now publicly announced he won’t run for a Michigan senate seat, held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters, in a state won by Trump in 2024.
There is growing speculation Buttigieg plans to bypass a Senate campaign in 2026 and run for president again in 2028. He made an unsuccessful run for the Democrat nomination in 2020.
Even in the Democratic Party, Clark says Buttigieg is too radical on issues Democrats are losing on.
“Like protecting girls sports and protecting girls privacy in locker rooms,” Clark says. “That's an issue that 67% of Democrats support and 80% of Americans support. Those cultural issues are what move voters. We found that out from the last election.”
