Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg‘s harsh words for Southwest Airlines is good politics as thousands remain stranded across the country these holidays due to the passenger carrier’s systems meltdown.
But while Buttigieg has always supported his boss, President Joe Biden, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s persistent struggles with the airline industry could plague his future career plans, especially if they include a presidential bid.
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Buttigieg will “definitely” have a presidential campaign talking point if he resolves Southwest Airlines’s problems as transportation secretary, “but broader economic issues will loom much larger,” according to former Republican strategist John Pitney.
“We don’t know what the top voter concern will be in 2024 or 2028, but it’s unlikely to be the Southwest meltdown of 2022,” Claremont McKenna College’s Roy Crocker American politics professor told the Washington Examiner.
Buttigieg has been a fixture on TV this week after Southwest Airlines canceled roughly 11,000 flights since last Thursday, at least according to the Wall Street Journal‘s tally. With passengers reporting waiting up to eight hours to speak with a customer service representative, Buttigieg told NBC, for one, circumstances have “crossed the line from what’s an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline’s direct responsibility.”
The Southwest Airlines meltdown is not Buttigieg’s first confrontation with the airline industry. Passenger carriers received approximately $14 billion in federal funding through Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which Democrats passed through Congress in March 2021. At the same time, they have been marred by delays or cancellations, particularly last winter and summer, as fares soared.
Last August, Buttigieg wrote to airline executives, calling the summer’s disruptions “unacceptable” and launching a consumer rights-focused website to better advise the public of their ticket compensation or refund options. The airlines, in turn, pointed to the weather, air traffic control, and the Federal Aviation Administration‘s National Airspace System.
Simultaneously, Buttigieg has been criticized for taking at least 18 taxpayer-funded private jet flights since the Senate confirmed him in February 2021, according to Fox News.
“Reminder: This is the same Buttigieg who wants to force your gas-powered car off the road, laughs at the high cost of energy, and is flatfooted as airport meltdowns become the norm, not the exception, nationwide,” Republican National Committees spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters this month.
Buttigieg has also been scrutinized for being in Europe during this month’s negotiation standoff between railway operators and 12 unions, with a strike projected to cost the economy $2 billion a day weeks before the holidays. Buttigieg had been part of the Labor Secretary Marty Walsh-led talks last fall that resulted in the tentative deal, which included a 24% pay increase over five years and another paid day off for rail workers. At Biden’s urging, Congress later used the 1926 Railway Labor Act to force the agreement on the parties.
“Like someone trying to fake a sick day, it seems like he tried to hide his European vacation by ‘maintain[ing] a social media presence during his time in Portugal and [making] it seem like he was traveling in the United States,'” Pigott added, quoting the Washington Free Beacon. “Turns out he couldn’t fool people for long.”
Republican strategist John Feehery quipped that Buttigieg has been “totally unimpressive” in his transportation post and the “only reason” he is stoking presidential speculation is because “every other Democrat is even less impressive.”
Several Democratic strategists defended Buttigieg, who originally polarized the public, too, by taking paternity leave to welcome twins with husband Chasten shortly after he entered office. One strategist dismissed the criticism of Buttigieg’s rail dispute involvement as not being “legitimate.”
“His team addressed it head-on,” the strategist said.
Another strategist downplayed any connection between Buttigieg’s tenure as transportation secretary and a second presidential bid.
“I feel like he’s handling this as expected,” the source said. “It’s because he’s good at his job, not in reaction to bad faith attacks from the Left.”
One such liberal attacker, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) ally Nina Turner, described Buttigieg as “a prime example of failing up.”
“What’s happening with the railroads, airlines & the supply chain is a result of a small city mayor being made the Secretary of Transportation as a means to pad his resume for President,” the former Ohio state senator tweeted.
What’s happening with the railroads, airlines & the supply chain is a result of a small city mayor being made the Secretary of Transportation as a means to pad his resume for President.
Secretary Buttigeig is a prime example of failing up.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) December 28, 2022
But a separate Democratic strategist contends there are transferable skills between transportation chief and presidential candidate as Buttigieg travels the country meeting local elected officials and community leaders while appearing in smaller media markets.
“He’s seen within the administration as someone who gets along with other people, is a good team player,” the strategist said. “Whether it’s ’24, whether it’s ’28, or way down the road, I think a lot of people within the Biden administration and the White House will look at Pete very favorably considering what a core and loyal member of the team he has been.”
Indiana University emeritus politics professor Gerald Wright added Buttigieg, 40, is “the face of the future of the party,” who is “young and has lots of time.” A Punchbowl News poll, for instance, found this month that 52% of senior congressional Democratic staffers believe Buttigieg will become the party’s 2024 nominee if Biden does not seek reelection, followed by Vice President Kamala Harris at 39%.
“The implementation of the massive infrastructure bill, with [its programs] for transportation, will keep [him] in the public eye,” Wright said. “Assuming that he can avoid some disaster like [Hurricane] Katrina did to [former President George W. Bush’s] secretary of homeland security — and Buttigieg is probably smart enough to do that — he will be an obvious possibility.”
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Buttigieg spent the closing days of the 2022 midterm elections on the campaign trail in his adopted home state of Michigan, where his husband is from, with other stops in the early voting states of New Hampshire and Nevada. His dark money group, Win the Era Action Fund, and his corresponding political action committee, Win the Era, have been relatively quiet, though they have continued list building and fundraising.
