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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday that he would not run for the U.S. Senate or for governor in Michigan next year.
“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 wrote in a post on X Thursday morning.
“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,” he wrote in a subsequent post.
In a post on Substack, Buttigieg wrote more about his decision-making process, saying he had “seriously” considered running for Michigan’s open Senate seat and governorship, but adding: “My party has a deep and talented bench here in Michigan, and I am certain that we will nominate an outstanding candidate for each office.”
He also wrote, “I am simultaneously thankful to be away from Washington and yet also more motivated than ever to contribute to the future of this country.”
Passing on a Senate and gubernatorial run sets Buttigieg up to be in the strongest possible position to run for president in 2028, a source familiar with his thinking told NBC News.
Running for office next year would have taken a potential 2028 campaign off the table, the source added, pointing to the Democratic Party’s post-2024 discussion about going to new places to reach new people, which the source said Buttigieg has been doing since he first joined the national political scene and will continue to do so.
Buttigieg ran for president in 2019, while he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raising his national profile and earning himself a spot in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet.
In the waning days of the Biden administration, it was widely speculated that Buttigieg was considering a run for Michigan’s governorship, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is term-limited.
During the Biden administration, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, bought a house in Traverse City, Michigan, Chasten’s hometown, fueling speculation that the then-Transportation Secretary would consider running for elected office in the battleground state.
At the end of January, as Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, announced that he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2026, Buttigieg’s name emerged as a top recruit for the seat. In the governor’s race, two candidates — Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — have already launched campaigns in the Democratic primary.
Buttigieg even went so far as to meet recently with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about a potential bid for Senate in Michigan, a source with knowledge of the meeting told NBC News this month.
Buttigieg’s decision not to run for the Senate leaves the race for the Democratic nomination wide open.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow has for months been floated as a potential candidate in the Senate and governor contests. On Thursday morning, she signaled in a post on X that she could announce her Senate campaign soon.
“Busy morning, huh? Thank you to everyone encouraging me to run for Senate. I’ll have more to share soon,” McMorrow wrote.
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich, has also been floated as a potential Senate candidate. During an early February interview on MSNBC’s “Way Too Early”, the congresswoman said that she was considering a run for the seat.
A source familiar with Stevens’ plans on Thursday also told NBC News that she’s “actively considering” campaigning for the Senate and that she’s putting together a team to prepare to do so.
Another top Democrat in Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel, has consistently said that she won’t run for governor next year.
But in an interview in February with the MichMash podcast, Nessel told host Alethia Kasben: “I had never even considered the United States Senate prior to [Peters’ retirement] announcement and in all candor I’ve been, as you might know, a little busy since that occurred. So I will just say this: I’m not ruling anything out, and I’m not ruling anything in.”
Both Michigan’s governor and Senate races next year are expected to be hotly contested. The state has cemented itself as a battleground over the last decade, most recently electing President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, last year. In 2020, the state backed Joe Biden for president.
Republicans are hoping to flip the Michigan governor’s mansion and the Senate seat next year, though few GOP candidates have jumped into either race so far.
In the gubernatorial contest, GOP state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt launched his campaign earlier this year,and in the Senate contest, the 2024 Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers has floated running again.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a Democrat, has also launched an independent campaign for governor, seeking to bypass both primaries.
