Free Republic

He has a new, carefully groomed beard. He bantered with bros for hours on an irreverent comedy podcast. And on Tuesday, he criticized the Trump administration through an appeal to patriotism in a state early on the presidential nominating calendar. Pete Buttigieg is inching back into the Democrats’ spotlight this spring with a series of appearances that have prompted speculation about how one of the party’s most evidently ambitious politicians might spend the lead-up to 2028. With Democrats still searching for a direction and a standard-bearer after November’s loss to President Trump, supporters of Mr. Buttigieg, a smooth-talking former mayor...

Pete Buttigieg said he’s contemplating a run for the Senate next year in his adopted home state of Michigan. “I’ve been looking at it,” the former Department of Transportation secretary and former presidential candidate acknowledged in his latest interview, as he pointed to the emerging race to succeed Sen. Gary Peters. The two-term Democrat announced in January that he won’t seek re-election in 2026. “I’m going to continue to work on the things that I care about,” Buttigieg elaborated as he appeared Tuesday night on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Buttigieg emphasized, “I have not decided what that...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Some believe the Democratic Party’s next savior is living here, huddled with family, in the relative obscurity of a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan. Pete Buttigieg has yet to decide if that’s a responsibility he wants. For now, Buttigieg, the 43-year-old former U.S. transportation secretary, is discussing his future with party officials, labor leaders and top strategists. He must decide soon whether he wants to return to the national spotlight as a candidate in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race or step aside to instead seek a much bigger role as his party’s next...

California Democrats have written to outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to ask for more than half a billion dollars in funding for an ailing high-speed rail project that President-elect Donald Trump defunded in 2019. As Breitbart News reported, Trump withheld $1 billion in funding from the project after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) canceled the original project. Newsom had explained to the state legislature that the original plan for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco “bullet” train “would cost too much and, respectfully, would take too long.” Trump then demanded the state refund the money federal taxpayers had given it — applying...

The massive flooding across NC and East Tennessee happened on Sept. 27. One of the busiest Interstate highways, I-40 is closed at the border of those two states after the roadway was washed away. Bridges have washed away, trapping people who can't get out. Where is the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg? He has not uttered one statement, for the three days after this disaster. He is proof your sexual preferences do not qualify you to manage the infrastructure in this country.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who appeared in his personal capacity, responded to 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris abandoning multiple positions from her previous presidential run like her support for Medicare for all and a ban on fracking by saying that “your time in government and just the evolution of the situation around you means it makes sense to continue developing your policies.” And there’s been a lot of “change and dynamism…not just in the administration, but just in the world around us right now.” Co-host Steve Inskeep asked, [relevant exchange...

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg praised abortion for making men “more free” during a virtual campaign event called “White Dudes for Harris” on Monday. “I’m so glad she has made freedom the theme of her campaign because I think in so many ways that’s at stake,” Buttigieg said of Vice President Kamala Harris...“Of course, women’s freedom is Exhibit A after Donald Trump demolished the right to choose. But, of course, men are also more free in a country where we have a president who stands up for things like access to abortion care. ... “Pete Buttigieg is right. Men...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg couldn’t give a time frame Sunday for when debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse will be cleared from the critical mega US shipping channel. “We haven’t received a timeline yet,” the country’s top transportation chief told CBS’ “Face the Nation” of the massive expected clean-up of the wreckage from the destroyed Baltimore span, which runs roughly 1.6 miles over the Patapsco River, a key transportation route that handled a whopping $80 billion in cargo last year. “This is going to be a very complex process, there are even now forces acting on that steel,”...

On last Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he doubts “that Americans in 2050 are still going to be driving that old technology, that combustion technology that we inherited from the 20th century.” Buttigieg said, “[T]he share of EVs has been dramatically increasing every single year, and that’s continuing. Now, our goal is, by the end of this decade, to be about half-and-half. We think that that can and will happen. But what isn’t guaranteed is, first of all, is that EV revolution going to continue to be made in...

The Washington Post reviewed “every possible regulatory change” that was made under the Trump administration and found that none of them contributed to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.“We decided to examine every possible regulatory change made under Trump that could be related to the accident and assess whether it could have made an impact,” read a review published Monday by Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post.“From our analysis, none of the regulatory changes made during the Trump administration at this point can be cited as contributing to the accident,” Kessler added.The review of “every possible regulatory change” made...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged Tuesday that he "could have spoken sooner" about the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that has caused serious health and environmental concerns because of the hazardous chemicals it was transporting. The 38 cars that derailed roughly two weeks ago [cut] "I have followed the normal practice of transportation secretaries in the early days after a crash, allowing NTSB to lead the safety work and staying out of their way," he said. "But I am very eager to have conversations with people in East Palestine about how this is impacted them." [cut]...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) stated that Secretary of State Pete Buttigieg hasn’t had enough involvement in trying to avert a potential rail strike, which, along with rising diesel costs, “will be a one-two shot to an already struggling economy.” Waltz said that in addition to the cost of gas spiking if there’s a rail strike, “the cost of diesel is through the roof as well. You know, the average trucker used to spend 300, $400 to fill up his rig. Now, he’s spending over $1,000, and this will be...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was ready with his answer when Fox News’s Neil Cavuto asked him about the widespread, hurricane-related power outages in southwest Florida. “Do you think this reminds folks that we’re not ready, or the EVs are not ready for prime time?” Cavuto asked Buttigieg. “Well, I actually think this is a great example of one of the many benefits of those tools,” Buttigieg said: “I was just at the Detroit Auto Show a couple of weeks ago. And one of the things that was very impressive about some of the vehicles that we saw, including the —...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was pressed on comments from Vice President Kamala Harris that critics said suggested Hurricane Ian relief aid be delegated based on factors other than purely loss claims. Harris had said that "it is our lowest-income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions… We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity." On "Your World" Tuesday, Buttigieg was asked about those remarks as his own department seeks to help...

Paying near record-high prices for gas may be hitting your wallet hard, but according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, that will just make an electric vehicle all the more worth it. During a House hearing on Tuesday, Buttigieg said, “The more pain we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles.” Watch the video below: VIDEO AT LINK....................... According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of gas is $4.49, down from $4.98 a month ago. However, it is up from $3.17 a year ago....

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday will launch a $1 billion pilot plan to address what he sees as cities and neighborhoods racially segregated or divided by roads. Buttigieg has previously declared “there is racism physically built” into U.S. infrastructure, promising to address it soon after taking office. As Breitbart News reported, he argued that some highways and bridges across several cities were designed to divide communities by race. “Well if you’re in Washington, I’m told that the history of that highway is one that was built at the expense of communities of color in the D.C. area,” he said....

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Monday he had tested positive for the coronavirus and will quarantine while working remotely from home. “I have tested positive for COVID-19 and am experiencing mild symptoms,” Buttigieg wrote on social media in a statement.

Soaring gas prices across the country are out of the White House's hands, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday as he rebuked oil company executives for not upping production. Driving the news: Gas prices have continued surging, and look headed for $5 a gallon nationwide, writes Axios' Matt Phillips. The big picture: "I don't think it's correct to say it hasn't made any difference at all," Buttigieg said about Biden's decision earlier this year to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that “most of us understand the difference between a hotel ballroom” where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner will be held without a mask mandate and airplanes and that the main purpose behind the Biden administration’s appeal of the transportation mask mandate ruling is “making sure there’s clarity on the public health authority that the CDC has.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has faced a flurry of criticism from Republicans for taking paid parental leave with his husband and two newborns. But Buttigieg wants to refocus the conversation on another topic entirely: climate change. “Inevitably, every transportation decision is a climate decision, whether we acknowledge it or not,” Buttigieg said in an interview with The Climate 202. “So I think that's absolutely part of our mandate and part of our set of responsibilities as a department.” **SNIP** Cars and trucks account for the bulk of the sector's pollution, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. And in...