Biden campaign officials have reportedly told Democratic insiders in private that Pete Buttigieg will have a spot in the Biden administration next year.
Axios reports that several Democrats close to Joe Biden said that it’s a question of “not if, but where” Buttigieg – who is a member of Biden’s 15-person advisory board – will land when Biden is inaugurated in January.
Related: Pete Buttigieg tells LGBTQ voters that “Help is on the way”
According to their reporting, Buttigieg – who speaks several languages and is the son of Maltese American European literature scholar Joseph Buttigieg – wants the position of U.S. ambassador to the U.N., but that position could go to foreign policy advisor Julie Smith.
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He is also being considered for Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He deployed to Afghanistan with the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014.
That position would make him the first out executive secretary and the first out LGBTQ member of the U.S. Cabinet in the presidential line of succession.
Biden is famously fond of the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, saying this past March: “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son Beau…. It’s the highest compliment I could give any man or woman.” He was referring to Beau Biden, his son who passed away due to brain cancer in 2015.
And in the month leading up to the election, Buttigieg proved to be one of the Biden/Harris campaign’s best surrogates, going viral with his no-nonsense responses to Republican talking points in appearances on Fox News.
A Politico report from this past Saturday on potential members of the Biden administration also mentioned Buttigieg as a top contender for Veterans Affairs, which it said is a “low-reward, high-risk job with bureaucratic scandals ensnaring several of the post’s most recent occupants.” Both he and former U.S. Rep. Jason Kander (D-MO) are being considered for the position, in part because neither would leave a U.S. Senate seat open and neither has many prospects in statewide office in their conservative home states.
The Politico article said that Buttigieg is pushing for a foreign policy position, though, such as ambassador to the U.N.
Buttigieg was asked last week just before the election about the possibility of a spot in the Biden administration.
“When I speak to the campaign it’s about one person, two actually: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Buttigieg told CNN. “What they know is they’ll have my full support, whether that involves a return to public service or from the outside.”
