Pete Buttigieg says ‘watching’ a possible Senate running in 2026 in Battleground Michigan

Pete Buttigieg He said that next year he was considering Senate in his adopted home country Michigan.

“I watched it,” the former Minister of the Ministry of Transport and a former candidate for president, because he pointed to the emerging race in my last interview, was acknowledged Senator Gary Peters. The courtyard Democrat announced in January that he would not seek re -elections in 2026.

“I’ll continue to work on the things I care about,” Buttigieg elaborated as he appeared on Tuesday night at CBS’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Buttigieg emphasized: “I did not decide what it means professionally, does it mean to run for duty soon or not. But I will make myself useful.”

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As a sign of how seriously considers the Senate campaign in the main state of Battleground Great Lakes, a well -known source, confirmed Fox News to meet Buttigieg last week with a minority Senate Senate leader last week Chuck Schumer New York, a longtime leader of the Democrat of Chamber.

43-year-old Buttigieg, a former Navy Intelligence Officer who has been deployed to the war in Afghanistan and who served as mayor of the South Band in Indiana for eight years, was a long candidate when he launched his own 2020. Presidential campaign.

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But his campaign set on fire, and he played closely by Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont to win MPs in Iowa before he came in a second of Sanders in a second New Hampshire Presidential primary. But Buttigieg, along with the rest of the Democratic field, gave up the race and approved Joe Biden because the then Vice President of Former won the primary South Carolina in the landslide, swallowed great Tuesday competitions and eventually won the nomination before winning the White House.

The Millennium Democrat, who served for four years as a Biden secretary for transportation, gave popularity within the Democratic Party as one of his younger stars.

Buttigieg pointed out in recent months that he wanted to stay involved. In a radio interview in December before the end of his term as a secretary for transportation, he said: “I will find ways to make myself useful, and maybe it’s running for the office, and maybe that’s not. I’ll need it for the next few weeks and months.”

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And shortly after Peters discovered in January, he will not look for a re-election, a source that is familiar with Buttigieg’s thinking told Fox News Digital, “Pete explores all his opportunities about how he can be useful and continue to serve … He is honored to be mentioned, and he is seriously watching.”

After the 2020 presidential campaign, Buttigieg and his spouse, Chasten, crossed the Red State in Indiana in neighboring Michigan, and have a home in Traverse City.

Buttigieg is not the only Democrat to see a hard look at Peters.

State Senator Mallory McMorrow is likely to launch a democratic campaign. McMorrow attracted national attention in 2022 after holding Kat in Senate in Michigan, which was considered a model for suppressing GOP attack.

Among other Democrats who expressed their interest in running are the two -part state attorney Michigan Dan Nesse and Rev. Haley Stevens, D-Mi.

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Former Ambassador Mike Rogers, R-Mi, At the end of January, he announced that “he is strongly considering” another Republican candidacy for a Senate in Michigan.

Rogers won the GOP Senate 2024 nomination in Michigan, but was closely lost to Ambassador Elisse Sloodkin, a candidate for Democrats, at the election of last November in the race for the success of the longtime Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow, who withdrew. The Slootka, which has largely surpassed Rogers, played approximately 19,000 votes or a third of the percentage point.

Rogers is a former Special Agent of the FBI who later performed the post of chairman of the Intelligence Committee during his term in Congress.

While Rogers was the first Republican to publicly make a shift towards the launch of a Senate campaign in Michigan 2026, the GOP sources last month told Fox News if they could lead the tail. John James – who is in his second term in the house and was a candidate for the GOP Senate Michigan 2018 and 2020 and a longtime national team.

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The Senate race in Michigan is considered to be “throwing” a top -not -party political handicapper Cook a political report.

Republicans are currently controlling Senate 53-47, after moving four places from blue to red in the election last November.

Party in power – obviously Republicans right now – traditionally faces political winds in the middle elections. However, the early reading of the 2026 map indicates that the GOP will be insulted in some key states.

Together with Michigan, the Republicans will also target Battleground Georgia, where the first -born democratic senator Jon Ossoff is considered vulnerable.

And at Swing State New Hampshire, longtime Democratic Senica Jeanne Shaheen has not yet said if she will seek a second term in Senate when she is a re -choice next year.

And the GOP watches the blue -tilted Minnesota, where Democratic Senica Tina Smith announced last month that she would not seek re -elections in 2026.

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But Republicans also play defense in the 2026 cycle.

Democrats are planning to go insult in the Blue Maine, where the moderate Susan Collins Senator Senator Susan Collins, as well as in the Battleground North Carolina, where Republican senator Thoma Tillis is also above 2026.

And Democrats watched the red leaning Ohio, where a Republican Lieutenant Jon Husted was appointed in January to inherit the Vice -President of JD Vance in Senate. Husted will start next year to finish Vance’s mandate.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report