Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters in Iowa on Monday that he won’t rule out a 2028 presidential bid. The exchange comes after months of signs that Buttigieg is planning to run for president again.
Buttigieg was in Iowa this week to campaign on behalf of several Democratic candidates in the state when he spoke with reporters alongside Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott, who is running for Congress. Iowa is a key state in Democratic presidential primaries, and it’s the only state that Buttigieg won in his 2020 presidential bid, which made him the first out LGBTQ+ presidential candidate to win a state’s primary contest. So his campaigning in that state has led to presidential speculation.
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Buttigieg told reporters at the campaign event that he has “a lot of great friends in Iowa,” but he’s “super focused on this year’s election” and not “the future.” He has been dodging giving a definitive answer about a 2028 run all year.
“So are you ruling out a 2028 White House run?” a reporter asked him.
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“Nope!” he replied, as seen in a video shared by USA Today.
During this trip to Iowa, Buttigieg headlined the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Liberty and Justice fundraiser in Altoona, where he laid out a vision for the party that struck a balance between populist critique of American politics and a call to reform and strengthen government programs.
“Corporate dark money flowing into campaigns everywhere we look,” he said. “Congressmen trading stocks while they take votes that move markets. The leader of the free world flying around in a second-hand jumbo jet from a foreign country while he makes a billion dollars on crypto deals propped up by foreign leaders.”
“It is not too much to ask that the wealthiest country in the world have the best healthcare in the world,” he said, “and that it have the best-funded public schools in the world. It is not too much to ask that the largest corporations and wealthiest people in this country pay at least as much of their income and wealth in taxes as a school teacher or a bus driver or firefighter.”
There have been other signs that he’s seriously considering a presidential bid. Michigan, his new home state, has two major statewide offices with no incumbents running: the governorship and a U.S. Senate seat. Buttigieg declined to run for either this year, despite being one of the state’s more famous Democrats. Winning either of those races would have put Buttigieg in the awkward position of either mounting a campaign almost immediately after being sworn in or waiting until 2036 to run for president again. And losing wouldn’t have helped a future presidential bid at all.
He also spoke with the Rev. Al Sharpton earlier this year at an event where several likely Democratic presidential candidates appeared. Sharpton asked if he should “be reserving a table at Sylvia’s” for Buttigieg. It has become a Democratic primary tradition for candidates to have lunch with Sharpton at Sylvia’s, a soul food restaurant in Harlem.
“You save me a seat, I’ll be there,” Buttigieg responded.
Buttigieg campaigned in New Hampshire back in February to support several Democratic congressional and Senate candidates, but also, as many speculated, to build a network of support in an early-primary state for a possible 2028 run. He was also asked about a possible presidential run.
“I’m a long way from any kind of decision,” he said at the time. “But I’m very happy to be here, and I know what I should be doing for the next year, which is to be there for causes and candidates that are deserving, to speak out, not just against this administration but for the measures that are gonna make it more affordable and easier to live in this state and in this country.”
If he announces a 2028 run, Buttigieg appears to have a better chance of success this time around. The 2020 Democratic primary was largely a contest between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Buttigieg ended his campaign before Super Tuesday.
This time around, he has more experience in both politics and the media after serving as transportation secretary for four years and appearing numerous times on Fox News, MS NOW, podcasts, and other outlets as one of the Democratic Party’s biggest mouthpieces.
And the change is reflected in polls. A poll from May showed that Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are the Democratic frontrunners among Americans who were asked about voting in a 2028 presidential primary. An early poll of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters also showed Buttigieg coming out on top of other potential Democratic candidates.
Trone Garriott, who is challenging a Republican incumbent in Iowa’s Third Congressional District, expressed appreciation for Buttigieg’s appearance on the campaign trail.
“We see folks who are very polished, and they’re all about being a politician and climbing the ladder and winning and building power for themselves,” she said. “And Pete, he cares about the people, and he’s showing up to connect with folks and talks about what it’s like to be a real person doing this hard work, which is something that I need to know: ‘Hey, it’s possible to do this work and have a family and be a part of a community and be a good neighbor.’ And he really models that for candidates like me.”
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