Pete Buttigieg is taking himself out of contention for Michigan’s Senate race in 2026, setting up a possible run for president in 2028, sources close to the former TranspoSec say.

Buttigieg, 43, wants to spend more time with his family after his four-year stint in the Biden administration and a previous run for president in 2020.

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He said this could be an opportunity to mobilize Americans of all sorts against Trump’s agenda.

He’s expected to announce he’ll skip a Senate bid to replace retiring Democrat Gary Peters on Thursday.

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With the decision, Buttigieg will have closed two doors to higher office in Michigan, leaving a third to the White House open.

In December, Buttigieg said he would forgo a run for governor of the state. Current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited and leaves office in 2026.

Buttigieg’s family took up residence in husband Chasten’s home state in 2022. The pair are raising twin toddlers.

The decision comes amid a bump in Buttigieg’s public engagement following the first frenetic days of the new Trump administration. Just in the last week, he’s appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, hosted a Bluesky ask-me-anything, and had an Instagram chat with veterans’ advocate Paul Rieckhoff.

Buttigieg joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2009 as an intelligence officer and served a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2014.

“He wanted to decide quickly enough to give other folks a chance to mobilize if they wanted to run,” said Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz (D), who told Politico he’s spoken with Buttigieg several times as he made up his mind. “He handled it responsibly. He’s a rising star in the Democratic Party.”

“The hardest decision in politics is to pass on a race you have a very good chance to win,” said longtime Democratic operative David Axelrod. “But had he won in ’26, it would almost certainly have taken him out of the conversation for ’28. This certainly keeps that option open.”

“Beyond that, I have a sense that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and with people in communities like his, where the conversations and concerns are so different than the ones you hear in the echo chamber of Washington,” Axelrod added.

Both the Senate bid and a run for governor of Michigan could have opened Buttigieg up to charges of carpetbagging in a state where he’s lived for just three years.

“I have a lot of humility about having only moved to Michigan a few years ago,” said the former South Bend, Indiana mayor about a possible gubernatorial run. “Although, of course, I did grow up in the neighborhood.”

A Buttigieg bid for president in 2028 could set up a possible Michigan v. Michigan race for the White House. Gov. Whitmer was at the top of the list of possible Democratic nominees last summer after President Biden dropped out and before Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in to replace him.

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