In a notable shift from Democratic messaging, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged this week that President Joe Biden “maybe” hurt the Democratic Party during his failed 2024 re-election bid—marking one of the clearest admissions yet from a top former Cabinet official that Biden’s campaign was a political liability.
Speaking in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a key early-state stop as speculation swirls about his own political future, Buttigieg told reporters:
“Right now with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that’s the case.”
While he stopped short of directly blaming Biden, the former 2020 presidential contender made it clear that Democrats are still grappling with the fallout from a campaign that collapsed in real-time last summer after Biden’s now-infamous debate performance against Donald Trump.
Despite his acknowledgment of Biden’s impact, Buttigieg balanced his remarks with personal praise for the former president, referencing their collaboration during the Baltimore bridge collapse response.
“Every time I needed something from him, from the West Wing, I got it,” Buttigieg said. “The same president that the world saw addressing that was the president I was in the Oval with.”
In other words, he framed Biden’s decline as situational and nuanced, rather than absolute or disqualifying—though the context of these remarks makes clear that the damage to the party has already been done.
Buttigieg emphasized that he’s “not running for anything right now,” and sought to cast his recent public appearances—including this one in Iowa—as focused on “values and ideas” rather than electoral ambitions. But the messaging, the location, and the timing are impossible to ignore.
By acknowledging Biden’s shortcomings while showcasing his own experience and availability, Buttigieg is beginning to reintroduce himself to national voters—not as Biden’s surrogate, but as a potentially unifying figure for the party’s post-2024 future.
Buttigieg’s comments come just as new reporting—particularly from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson—has thrown the curtain wide open on Biden’s decline. An upcoming book, Original Sin, details how Biden’s aides quietly debated putting him in a wheelchair if he were re-elected, underscoring the physical and cognitive toll his presidency had taken.
With insiders now confirming what many Americans suspected for years, figures like Buttigieg are faced with a choice: defend the cover-up or pivot toward renewal. His remarks suggest he’s attempting the latter, gently positioning himself as both loyal and forward-looking.
