Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, is expected to announce that he will not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat, according to three people briefed on his deliberations, a decision that appears to open the door to a 2028 presidential bid.
Mr. Buttigieg’s decision to skip the 2026 race to succeed Senator Gary Peters, a retiring Democrat, could allow him to pivot more easily to the next contest for the White House — which will effectively kick off the day after the midterm elections, if not sooner. The news was earlier reported by Politico.
Mr. Buttigieg, who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was seen as the most prominent potential contender in next year’s marquee Senate contest, a proven fund-raiser with strong name recognition and a devoted fan base in his party.
But he also would have been vulnerable to “carpetbagger” attacks, and was plainly aware of that risk. Mr. Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., became a Michigan resident in 2022, moving to Traverse City, where he lives with his husband, Chasten, and their twin toddlers.
“I have a lot of humility about having only moved to Michigan a few years ago,” he said when asked in an interview in December about a possible run for governor there. “Although, of course, I did grow up in the neighborhood.”
Term limits will preclude Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from running for a third time next year, and Mr. Buttigieg is not expected to pursue that office.
Mr. Buttigieg’s Senate candidacy would have tested voters’ appetites for elevating a member of the Biden administration. Former Vice President Kamala Harris lost Michigan to President Trump in November, and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was unpopular for much of his presidency. A representative for Mr. Buttigieg did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning.
Democrats who are eyeing the Senate race include Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate from suburban Detroit; State Representative Mallory McMorrow, who won national Democratic acclaim in 2022 with a speech defending liberal values; and Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive health director in Wayne County who ran unsuccessfully against Ms. Whitmer in the 2018 primary.
The race for governor has already prompted a crowded and contentious Democratic primary. Both it and the Senate contest are expected to be competitive in the general election.
In the meantime, another Buttigieg is stepping into the spotlight in Michigan.
This spring, Chasten Buttigieg will release a children’s book whose title features the name their children use for his husband. The book, “Papa’s Coming Home,” tells of children celebrating their father’s return from a trip. A book tour is scheduled to begin in Traverse City in mid-May.
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