Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as he contemplates wading into the 2026 Senate race in Michigan.
The two met last week to discuss Buttigieg potentially running for outgoing Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ seat in the Trump-won pivotal swing state, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News Digital.
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Pete Buttigieg met with Chuck Schumer as he mulls a Senate bid in Michigan. (Reuters)
Schumer’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
The meeting was first reported by Politico.
Buttigieg, 43, previously served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, before launching a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Fans affectionately referred to him as “Mayor Pete” as he skyrocketed from longshot to contender for the nomination. Since his White House run, Buttigieg has maintained popularity within the Democratic Party as one of its younger stars.
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United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg looks on prior to the Playoff First Round game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium on December 20, 2024, in South Bend, Indiana. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images))
The millennial Democrat was later chosen to serve as President Biden’s transportation secretary.
Soon after Peters revealed in January he wouldn’t seek re-election, a source familiar with Buttigieg’s thinking told Fox News Digital, “Pete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve.”
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U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) speaks during Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 20, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
“He’s honored to be mentioned for this, and he’s taking a serious look.”
Peters announced his retirement to the Detroit News, telling the outlet, “I always thought there would be a time that I would step aside and pass the reins for the next generation. I also never saw service in Congress as something you do your whole life.”
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Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, visits a shipping terminal at the Honmoku pier in Yokohama, Japan, on Monday, June 19, 2023. (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“And that goes back to 2008 when I first won that House seat. I thought it would be for a matter of a few terms that I would serve, and then I would go back to private life,” he added.
Besides Buttigieg, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is likely to launch a Democratic campaign. McMorrow grabbed national attention in 2022 after delivering a floor speech in the Michigan Senate which was seen as a model for countering GOP attacks.
Among the other Democrats who’ve expressed interest in running are two-term Michigan attorney general Dana Nesse and Rep. Haley Stevens.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers announced at the end of January that he was “strongly considering” a second straight Republican run for the Senate in Michigan.
Rogers won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democrats’ nominee, in last November’s election in the race to succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who retired. Slotkin, who vastly outspent Rogers, edged him by roughly 19,000 votes, or a third of a percentage point.
Rogers is a former FBI special agent who later served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during his tenure in Congress.
While Rogers was the first Republican to publicly make a move toward launching a 2026 Senate campaign in Michigan, GOP sources told Fox News last month that others who may consider running are Rep. John James – who’s in his second term in the House and was the GOP Senate nominee in Michigan in 2018 and 2020 – and longtime Rep. Bill Huizenga.
The Michigan Senate race is considered a “Toss Up” by top nonpartisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report.
The Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47, after flipping four seats from blue to red in last November’s elections.
The party in power — clearly the Republicans right now — traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. Nevertheless, an early read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states.
Along with Michigan, Republicans will also be targeting battleground Georgia, where first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is considered vulnerable.
And in swing state New Hampshire, longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has yet to say whether she’ll seek another term in the Senate when she’s up for re-election next year.
And the GOP is eyeing blue-leaning Minnesota, where Democratic Sen. Tina Smith last month announced she wouldn’t seek re-election in 2026.
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But Republicans are also playing defense in the 2026 cycle.
Democrats plan to go on offense in blue-leaning Maine, where moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins is up for re-election, as well as in battleground North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is also up in 2026.
And Democrats are eyeing red-leaning Ohio, where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was appointed in January to succeed Vice President JD Vance in the Senate. Husted will run next year to finish out Vance’s term.
