The U.S. transportation secretary is officially a Traverse City resident now.
Pete Buttigieg "has changed his residency from Indiana to the Wolverine State, where he plans to vote this fall, a spokesperson confirmed," Politico reports Thursday evening.
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The presidential Cabinet member, a former South Bend mayor (2012-20) who was among Joe Biden's primary season rivals in 2020, has a personal reason and plausible political ones too.
Buttigieg’s move was for family reasons, specifically, his husband’s family, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said.
"Moving to Chasten’s hometown of Traverse City allowed them to be closer to his parents, which became especially important to them after they adopted their twins, often relying on Chasten's parents for help with child care,” the person said.
The couple, married since June 2018, have 11-month-old twins named Penelope Rose Buttigieg and Joseph August Buttigieg.
"The move also has another significant benefit," Politico notes.
With two Democratic senators and a Democratic governor, Michigan is a much more hospitable state [than Indiana] for a fellow Democrat with political ambitions. ... Buttigieg has been grip-and-grinning the state’s politicos.
He was the keynote speaker early last month at the Mackinac Policy Conference, where the transportation secretary and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave a joint interview and spoke about working together to speed up infrastructure projects.
If Whitmer is re-elected in November, she couldn't run for a third term -- opening the way for a potential Buttigieg candidacy in 2026. A U.S. Senate race also is possible if Debbie Stabenow doesn't seek a fifth term in 2024, when she'll be 74. (Buttigieg turns 42 that January.)
