Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will do everything he can to ensure Kamala Harris is the next president of the United States, he said in his personal capacity in an interview with Spectrum News on Tuesday.

He declined to say whether he is being vetted as a possible vice presidential running mate.

What You Need To Know

  • Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said he will do everything he can to ensure Kamala Harris is the next president of the United States

  • In an interview with Spectrum News in his personal capacity, he declined to say whether he is being vetted as a possible vice presidential running mate

  • Buttigieg, who Joe Biden named his Transportation Secretary, endorsed Harris for president on Monday after the incumbent Democrat exited the race

  • Watch Spectrum News' full interview with Pete Buttigieg in the player above

Buttigieg endorsed Harris for President on Monday, along with several other government leaders who had been shortlisted as possible candidate replacements for President Joe Biden before he stepped down from the race on Sunday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had all been floated as potential presidential nominees before endorsing Harris.

Now Buttigieg is widely viewed as being on the list of possible vice presidential running mates — a suggestion he deflected twice during his interview with Spectrum News, saying it wasn’t appropriate to discuss. His intent, he said, is “to help make the case for Kamala Harris.”

Harris, he said, “represents continuity in terms of values but change in terms of a new messenger who I think can speak in new ways to all generations of Americans. She can rightly share in credit for many of the administration’s greatest achievements: the historic infrastructure law, the 15 million jobs created, the work that’s been done to restore manufacturing to places like the industrial Midwest where I grew up.”

Buttigieg was mayor of South Bend Ind., before running as a 2020 Democratic rival to Joe Biden for the presidency. After his victory in 2020, Biden nominated Buttigieg to be his transportation secretary, a role he has held since February 2021. 

Like Whitmer and Shapiro, he is a native Midwesterner who could appeal to swing voters in the critical states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

Buttigieg said it is up to Harris to decide whether she will choose a Midwesterner for her running mate.

"Look, I love public service," he said. "There's also a lot of other things in life that I really love, including, along with Chasten, being a parent to two incredible kids. And I sincerely don't know what the future will bring. I do know that I have a day job that I'm passionate about and will do everything I can when I'm not doing that day job to help make the case for Kamala Harris to be the next president.

The Trump campaign told Spectrum News that the former president’s selection of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential pick is to help them reach out to voters in key Midwest battleground states. Buttigieg said that Trump's choice may make things more difficult for him.

“I think it’s really going to be hard for JD Vance to add much to the ticket, given that he has a history of pointing out how unfit for office Donald Trump is,” Buttigieg said, adding that Vance once called Trump an idiot and compared him to Hitler.

“Of course, even more important is the fact that the industrial Midwest lost manufacturing jobs under Donald Trump and has seen a huge growth in manufacturing jobs under Joe Biden," Buttigieg said.

"I’m really excited as a son of the industrial Midwest to help tell that story, because I don’t want them to get away with passing JD Vance off as a populist when in policy terms, he’s for tax cuts for the rich and he’s against labor unions and has all the other anti-worker positions you would expect from somebody who went off to venture capital without regard for policies that would help other people follow in his footsteps.”