Is it too early to think about governor ’26? Nah.  

What was U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg doing in Monroe on Monday?  

According to the press release, he was standing in front of a massive redo of Interstate 75, touting all the federal bucks the Biden administration has pumped into Michigan’s roads. 

But the project was announced two months ago. The 2024 election is over. Buttigieg’s term in office is ending in a little more than a month. What’s the point of making another announcement when it’s not getting finished until Donald Trump is back in office? 

If you don’t find this visit curious, why did “Mayor Pete” meet with UAW workers shortly before that? 

As it turns out, Buttigieg is kicking the tires on a possible gubernatorial run for the Democratic nomination, The Detroit News reported. Having moved to Traverse City two years ago to raise his kids with his husband, Chasten, Buttigieg is looking to gin up support to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as his next gig. 

The one-time presidential candidate known affectionately as the former mayor of South Bend has name ID that will rival anyone else interested in getting into the Democratic field. 

So, who else would that be? 

Let’s start with the most likely: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who’s been making her interest in the post blatantly obvious. She basically has a campaign team already to go. She raised a bunch of money into a political action committee this year and passed it out to House Democratic candidates in competitive seats. 

The only question surrounding Benson is if she could rally female voters like Whitmer did in 2017 with the anti-Trump movement. 

Another possible Democratic candidate is Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who has been telling people privately that he’s not interested in being Detroit’s mayor. He’s looking at governor. 

Folks in Democratic circles know Gilchrist, and the progressives love him. A problem with the lieutenant governor is that he has history working against him. In Michigan’s long history, only one LG has been elected governor: John Swainson in 1960, and he only served one two-term term. 

Another rising star is state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who put her name in the rumor pot for Democratic National Committee chair, but that seems like a long shot at this point. Running for governor, she’d need to quickly generate millions of dollars, not just hundreds of thousands, which she’s more than capable of doing. 

Which brings us back to Buttigieg, who could conceivably raise whatever he’d need for governor by tapping into his expansive national network.  

His get-to-know-you visit with the UAW exposed a major flaw if he were to run. He’s a Hoosier, not a Michigander, and he may have a problem connecting with the male demographic that Democrats struggled mightily to relate to in November 2024. 

“Who are the Detroit Lions playing this weekend?” someone asked him. 

Uh. He didn’t know. And he probably doesn’t care. 

Outside of easily being framed as a carpetbagger, Buttigieg risks looking too high brow for a job governing A LOT of working-class people. 

Of course, if the entire field falls apart, there’s always Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who could hop into a Democratic Party primary later in the game if he finds his new independent run isn’t going anywhere. 

Duggan’s done the calculus. For now, he’s not interested in a knock-down, drag-out fight for the Democratic nomination. He’d prefer to save his money for the General and run as the guy who simply got stuff done in Detroit. 

Over on the Republican side, what do we have? 

You could knock me over with a feather if 2022 nominee Tudor Dixon doesn’t run. Kevin Rinke started his own podcast, which I can’t believe isn’t elective politics-related. Weird ol’ Perry Johnson is still around, looking to run for something. 

Don’t count out Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, a political savant, who wouldn’t struggle to excite the moneyed interests within Republican Party and make a spirited run. 

Yeah, it’s early projections at this point, but if political people weren’t making their moves, I wouldn’t be talking about them.

(Kyle Melinn is the editor of the Capitol news service MIRS. Email him at melinnky@gmail.com.)