Is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg considering a run for U.S. Senate if and when Sen. Debbie Stabenow, 71, decides to retire? Stabenow is up for re-election in 2024.
In 2021, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Glezman, purchased a house in Traverse City on Lake Michigan. Glezman grew up in Traverse City, and his parents still live there.
The two married in 2018, and they announced that they had officially become parents to two children in September 2021.
Buttigieg served as mayor of South Bend, Ind., from 2012-2019. In 2020, after narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses, he became the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary contest. In addition to being the first openly gay Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, Buttigieg is also the youngest person ever to lead the Department of Transportation.
The thinking is that when Buttigieg completes his term as Transportation Secretary, he and his family will move from D.C. to Traverse City. He will then run for Stabenow’s Senate seat when she retires, while he bides his time to mount another presidential run.
Tweets from Tori Sachs, director of the conservative Michigan Freedom Fund, have pushed the rumor forward.
Stabenow has close ties to Livingston County: she challenged incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Dick Chrysler (and Brighton businessman) for the 8th District Congressional seat in 1996, winning by 10 points. She chose not to seek re-election in 2000 and instead challenged incumbent Republican Sen. Spencer Abraham, defeating him by 11 points.
She became the senior Michigan senator when Sen. Carl Levin retired in 2015.
