Buttigieg confirms he won’t run for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat

Pete Buttigieg speaks at the Michigan Democratic Party's election night watch party in Detroit on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Updated at 12:13 p.m. 

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has made it official: he will forego a run at Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat next year. 

Posting to social media Thursday morning, Buttigieg took himself out of the running for either the Senate seat or open race for governor in 2026.

“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,” said Buttigieg.

The announcement has fueled speculation that he may instead seek another run for the White House. Buttigieg did nothing to set aside those questions in a longer response posted to his Substack page.

“Today, our country is demonstrably less free, less secure, less democratic – and less prosperous – than it was just ten weeks ago. Yet the answer is not to revert to yesterday’s inadequate status quo. Rather, it is time to show how better future-facing choices about our government and society can make us all freer, safer, more empowered – and more prosperous,” he wrote.

Buttigieg said he planned to spend more time “engaging both legacy and digital media in the service of a politics of everyday life, rooted in the values of freedom, security, and democracy,” while also engaging “partners, allies, friends and strangers in the service of a more convincing and widespread account of American prosperity than either side has so far offered.”

Politico and The Associated Press had reported earlier Thursday, based on sources familiar with Buttigieg’s plans, that he would announce he would not run for Senate.

Buttigieg, who was a presidential candidate in 2020, was  the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, before moving to Traverse City in July 2022 with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, who grew up there. Together, they have two young children. 

As his time as the Biden administration’s transportation secretary was coming to an end, Buttigieg had been touted as a possible candidate for Michigan governor in 2026. He told the Detroit News in January that he wasn’t ruling out that possibility, and he urged University of Michigan students just a week before the inauguration of President Donald Trump not to give in to cynicism.

“I did not come here to tell you everything’s going to be fine. I’m not here to tell you that. Everything’s not going to be fine, but you know, everything’s never been fine,” Buttigieg said at the time.

The U.S. Senate seat, currently held by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township), came into play when Peters announced in January that he would not seek another term. His decision came less than three months after a tight win for the state’s other Senate seat by Democrat Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), who defeated former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) by less than four-tenths of a percentage point.

Whichever party wins Peters’ seat in 2026 could help determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate.

Rogers has since hinted at another run in 2026, while another potential GOP candidate is U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township), who made two unsuccessful runs for U.S. Senate before winning election in 2022 to the U.S. House.

On the Democratic side, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) is also thought to be preparing a run for the seat and only further added fuel to that fire with a post on social media Thursday saying she’ll “have more to share soon.”

Term-limited state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who has won two statewide elections, is another possibility for Democrats.

This story was updated with details on Buttigieg’s confirmation that he would not run for U.S. Senate.