U.S. Senator Gary Peters is ready to leave public office in two years and move onto a “new chapter” of life, and pass the reigns for the next generation.
Enter Pete Buttigieg, 43, who resides in Traverse City, Michigan, the home town of his husband Chasten, who is now actively exploring a bid for the seat in the 2024 election.
Term limited Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Buttigieg were seen by Michigan Democrats as the most likely candidates for an open Senate seat, but Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC released Tuesday morning a statement that said Whitmer “is not running for this seat in the Senate.”
Peters, 66, says he wants to spend more time with his family, including a new grandchild on the west coast.
“I also never saw service in Congress as something you do your whole life,” said Peters, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, and the House in 2008.
Peters just completed two election cycles chairing the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm while at the same time chairing the Senate Homeland Security panel. His next two years will be spent as the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security panel and as the new co-chair of the Auto Caucus.
His focus in Congress has been Michigan’s auto industry, the Great Lakes, cybersecurity, veterans issues, toxic PFAS contamination and government efficiency.
The Center for Effective Lawmaking identified Peters with the highest score of the 117th Congress, based on the lawmakers’ abilities to advance agenda items through the legislative process and into law.