Pete Buttigieg says he won’t seek US Senate seat in Michigan in 2024

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated Sunday he won’t run for the open US Senate seat in Michigan in 2024, in his most direct reply to this point ruling out a possible bid.

“No,” Buttigieg stated when requested by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” if he would search to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Buttigieg had beforehand indicated he wouldn’t pursue the seat, citing his present deal with his job in President Joe Biden’s Cupboard, however had stopped wanting ruling it out altogether.

“I am planning to vote in that election as a resident of Michigan, however look, the job that I’ve is, to start with, I believe, the very best job within the federal authorities,” he instructed Tapper on Sunday.

“This job is taking 110% of my time, and clearly I serve on the pleasure of the president. However so long as he’s prepared to have me proceed doing this work, I am proud to be a part of this workforce,” Buttigieg added.

Buttigieg, the previous mayor of South Bend, Indiana, moved final yr to Michigan, the place the dad and mom of his husband, Chasten, stay.

Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 Senate seats on the poll subsequent yr, together with three seats in states that backed former President Donald Trump by at the least 8 factors in 2020: West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.

Apart from Michigan, the occasion can be defending seats in different battleground states reminiscent of Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Potential Democratic candidates for Stabenow’s seat embody Reps. Elissa Slotkin and Debbie Dingell, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who drew nationwide consideration final yr in a ground speech pushing again towards anti-LGBTQ assaults from a Republican colleague.

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