In recent years (recent decades, really, but who’s counting?), we’ve become accustomed to the frantic pace of presidential election seasons. It used to be that, after a general election, we got a break, but these days, it seems like the jockeying for positions in presidential races begins approximately 48 seconds after the previous election is called.
Advertisement
You’d think they would at least try to get a good night’s sleep first.
Of course, the most frantic jockeying is done by members of the party who lost the last election. Republicans can be pretty confident that, barring some disaster, JD Vance will be the 2028 candidate, and candidly, most Republicans should be pretty satisfied with that idea. But the Democrats? After all the finger-pointing and blame-throwing is done, the Democrats are going to need a candidate, and boy, howdy, has that jockeying for the position already started. Now we learn that none other than former South Bend, Indiana Mayor and current Transportation Secretary “Pothole Pete” Buttigieg may be considering another attempt, making Republicans across the land respond with “yes, please!”
An appearance by Pete Buttigieg on Friday morning on New Hampshire talk radio is fueling ongoing speculation that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in President Biden’s administration may be mulling another White House run in 2028.
Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who is considered a potential contender for the next nomination race, has made numerous radio appearances across the country during his four years steering the Department of Transportation, including a bunch in New Hampshire, which prides itself on being the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state.
Yes, Pothole Pete ran in 2020, and the only reason his campaign wasn’t the absolute worst in that cycle was because Kamala Harris was also in the race. Oh, sure, some Democrats are already propping up the idea of a Kamala Harris re-run in 2028, but honestly, when Kamala Harris can’t measure up to Pete Buttigieg in a Democrat primary campaign, why would anyone think she would stand a chance in an open field, any more than she did in 2020?
Advertisement
Remember Tulsi Gabbard defenestrating Kamala Harris in the Dems’ 2019 primary debate? Tulsi let that blood into the water, and in any future primary debate, other Dems will be looking to circle in and snap at Kamala in like manner.
But Pete Buttigieg would scarcely be any better. He was inept as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana. As Transportation Secretary, he was a cipher — when he showed up at all. As a candidate, he was only barely there. Watching Pete Buttigieg take on JD Vance in a presidential race would be like watching a fight between the Royal Gurkha Rifles and a San Francisco Girl Scout troop.
See Related: Report: ‘Lost and Rudderless’ Democrats See AOC As 2028 Presidential Contender
Granted, Buttigieg hasn’t announced any run yet; so far, this is speculation. But he’s not ruling out a run, either.
“The only thing I’m sure is next is a little vacation,” Buttigieg said when asked by host Chris Ryan about his plans once his tenure as transportation secretary sunsets on Jan. 20.
Buttigieg said he and his spouse, Chasten, “are ready to spend a little time together. I’m ready to be around our three-year-old twins a little more, and I’m determined not to make any life decisions too quickly in the new year.”
So, it remains to be seen if any of those “life decisions” would involve running for office again, although he did it once, which speaks loudly to his ambitions. But could he have gained enough self-awareness in his aborted 2020 campaign to know that, in all honesty, he’s just not cut out for this office?
Advertisement
Color me skeptical.
Loathe as I am to offer the Democrats advice, their best 2028 hopes may well lie in the party’s leaders going hat-in-hand to someone like Joe Manchin and begging, “Joe, please save us from ourselves!” But I don’t see that happening. I’m guessing it will take a few more electoral beatings before the Democrats figure out that their party’s Overton Window has been pushed off the map into “HERE BE MONSTERS” territory.
