DETROIT — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten are officially Michiganians — a move that may help bolster the former South Bend, Indiana mayor's future political prospects.
The couple have moved to Traverse City, Chasten's hometown, and plan to register to vote there before the midterm election this fall, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson confirmed to The Detroit News.
The move will allow the Buttigiegs to be closer to Chasten's parents, who have helped the couple with child care since they adopted their twins last August, according to the spokesperson.
The Buttigieges bought a property in Long Lake Township southwest of Traverse City in August 2020, according to Grand Traverse County property records. They also rent a one-bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C.
Pete Buttigieg's move to the Mitten could be a launching pad for the 40-year-old politician who served as the mayor of South Bend before making a failed bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, analysts said Friday. Buttigieg won the Iowa caucuses and finished a close second in the New Hampshire and Nevada primaries as the first openly gay candidate before ending his campaign before the Michigan March 10 primary.
"It's a very smart move," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Establishing Michigan residency would allow Buttigieg to make a bid in 2024 to succeed U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., if she chooses to retire at the end of her term. He may also choose to run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2026.
"Michigan is winnable for a Democrat," Sabato said. "Indiana is not, at least in most years."
Buttigieg has the name identification and the fundraising prowess to be a strong candidate for either of those offices, but he also faces the risk of being seen as an outsider because he moved relatively recently while maintaining a post in the Biden administration, said David Dulio, a political science professor at Oakland University.
"How much will (voters) believe that he understands the issues facing Michigan, given that most of his time is spent in D.C.?" Dulio said.
But Buttigieg obviously "has his eye on running for president" again, Sabato said. If the transportation secretary can secure a statewide office in Michigan, that would be a viable step toward another campaign for the White House, he said.
And being from Michigan — one of the most decisive swing states in the nation — can only help Buttigieg convince the pragmatists within the Democratic Party to make him the nominee, Sabato said.
The Department of Transportation also announced Friday that Buttigieg would visit the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids to tout $8.7 million in federal funding it will receive through a DOT airport improvement program.
In total, Michigan airports will receive will receive $61.8 million in the first round of the funding, which was appropriated through the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Buttigieg spent Memorial Day weekend at their home near Traverse City before traveling to the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island earlier this summer, where he gave a keynote speech about the department's efforts to resolve supply chain snarls, improve infrastructure and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
Chasten Buttigieg told The Washington Post about the couple's transition to the capital city from South Bend.
He remarked on the sticker shock the couple had when searching for housing in Washington, which he said is "extremely unaffordable" for many people.
Traverse City, where Chasten's parents still live, is where he said he likes to "escape" to be with "people who remind me of, like, me."
Pete Buttigieg's new residency in Michigan was first reported Thursday by Politico.
