Pete Buttigieg could be named Secretary of Commerce or Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to the latest rumor out of D.C.
An unnamed source familiar with Joe Biden’s transition team told TMZ that Buttigieg is being vetted for a significant appointment, which could include being put in charged of the HUD or Commerce departments, or possibly the Environmental Protection Agency. If he is appointed to HUD or Commerce, he would be the first out LGBTQ person to lead an executive department and be a member of the Cabinet in the presidential line of succession.
Related: Gay Long Beach mayor’s snappy defense of Pete Buttigieg put a gay Republican in his place
The source said that Buttigieg will “almost certainly” be given a significant job in the administration.
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Buttigieg reportedly wanted to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., but Biden’s team has already announced that veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield will take that position.
There was also speculation that Buttigieg would be appointed Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and TMZ‘s source said that that’s possible but “unlikely.”
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 repeatedly with his no-nonsense responses to Republican talking points in appearances on Fox News.
Buttigieg was asked 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.”
