Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Pete Battigegg returned to Iowa Tuesday.
Buttigieg's trip has found the City Hall with his veterans – to ensure that he is burning speculation that he is seriously paying attention to the 2028 presidential run. Former South Bend, Indiana mayor, 2020 White House candidate, and four years of Transport Secretary under former President Joe Biden have remained prominent figures in democratic circles.
“It feels really good to be back in Iowa. Anyone can come to Iowa just before the election appears,” Battigegg said at Town Hall.
Pointing to the Caucus victory in 2020, Buttigieg cheered loudly. And he says: “I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to talk to people I came to know five or six years ago and people I saw for the first time.”
Less than four weeks after Trump's second term, Democrats are already paying attention to the 2028 presidential election
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigigue found the headline for Veterans' Town Hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on May 13, 2025. (Fox News – Paulsteinhauser)
Buttigieg was not asked about a potential Second White House run as he was asked by an audience at a town hall hosted by Potevets, a progressive political organisation that didn't raise 2028 in his comments and worked to lift up veterans and military families. The group told Fox News that around 1,800 people packed the event.
Buttigieg told the Substack author in a live interview hours before Town Hall that in 2028 he would consider “what I'll take to the table.”
During his 24 hours in Hawkeye, Buttigieg was gathered with staff from his 2020 campaign, followed by videographers for his political group Win The Era.
Work list where Democrats can run for the White House in 2028
Asked by Fox News if a trip to Iowa was the start of the 2028 assessment period, Buttigieg said, “Now I'm not running anything, and part of the exciting and persuasive thing about opportunities like this is that it's a campaign for value and ideas, not for a specific election campaign.
A small number of people in the crowd interviewed by Fox News supported Buttigieg in the Caucus in 2020 and said they were interested in supporting him again if he ran in 2028.
The poll, the political group that organized the City Hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, discovered by Pete Buttigieg, on May 13, 2025, said about 1,800 people participated. (Fox News – Paulsteinhauser)
“I'm here because I came from a long line of veterans. I have a family of three who currently work at VA Hospital in Iowa. So I'm showing my support here,” said Face Hunt of Cedar Rapids. “I loved Pete in 2020. I'm looking forward to seeing him campaigning and seeing him run again.”
And Chris Bzdill of Cedar Rapids said, “I really loved hearing what he had to say…it's a very refreshing change. It seems logical and easy.”
He then added, “I hope this goes further, so I see where I'm going.”
Buttigieg pointed to those comments, saying, “Of course, it means a lot to hear people who supported me continue to believe what I have to say.”
A trip by Buttigieg to Iowa takes less than four months to President Donald Trump's second mission tour at the White House.
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And while Democrats' favorable ratings in the referendum plunged to an all-time low, the increasingly angry and cheered party foundation is eager to oppose Trump's sweeping and controversial moves during his second administration.
Democrats are already stuck in next year's midterm elections. The party hopes to regain the House majority and perhaps Republican Senate. Democrats are also already looking forward to the 2028 presidential campaign, with potential candidates beginning to move early.
Iowa's half-century Caucus has launched both the presidential nomination calendar for major political parties, but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) demoted Hawkeye State on its 2024 schedule.
Former Transport Secretary Pete Buttigeg will greet members of the audience along the ropeline following the city hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on May 13, 2025. (Fox News – Paulsteinhauser)
Buttigieg's visit is, however, seen as a signal of his interest in 2028, along with his announcement in March that he would hand over the 2026 run for a Democratic-controlled open Senate seat on the battlefield, his adopted hometown.
Unlike many other top Democrats, Buttigieg, who often appeared on the Fox News channel during his four years in the Biden administration, made his first few months of the second Trump administration appear on television, but also took part in visible podcasts.
“We are experimenting with a number of different forms of going out on podcasts and showing both political and non-political people, together with different people in town halls, social media.
“There are all sources of information that friends who think differently about politics are getting information, and frankly, they are not subject to newspaper editorial standards,” Buttigieg said at City Hall.
Buttigieg is a veteran and has served as an intelligence agent for six years in the Navy reserves. During his job, Buttigieg was deployed for six months in the war in Afghanistan.
“This wasn't your typical democratic gathering for the audience we were able to build and the messengers we had. These were Central Right Army families and veterans who wanted to go back to the Democrats.
Pointing to Iowa, a former battlefield condition that has turned red in the past decade, Battigeg admitted at City Hall that “the Democrats don't have the best brands around here.”
He then told reporters: “I think it's really important to be in a community like this, to be in a red state, to be in a rural area. It's very important that Democrats have a vocabulary that they can reach out to, and you can't create that vocabulary online.
Buttigieg cruelly criticised the actions of the Second Trump Administration in his comments at City Hall, but he also emphasized that Democrats seeking to escape the political wilderness must highlight their ideas.
“There's this theory that we should just hang behind us and ruin them. I don't agree,” Battigeg said.
Watch: Transport Secretary Trump has a new plan to upgrade his aging air traffic control system
The trip by Buttigieg came as he faced a fire coming from Trump Trump and Transport Secretary Shawn Duffy about a surge in flight delays and cancellations at Newar Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Duffy denounces the Department of Transport and the Biden administration's predecessor for claiming that he failed to upgrade the air traffic control system at the busy airport.
And last week, Trump also claimed that during his tenure as Buttigigue, a tenure secretary, during his tenure, he “had no clues, and this guy is actually a presidential candidate.” Trump added. “I don't think he's going to do too well.”
The president's jab came a few days after buttigieg, pointing to Trump's underwater approval rating in the referendum. In a social media post, he said, “Donald Trump is the most unpopular 100-day president in modern American history.”
The Trump administration claims that buttigieg oversaw the rocky transition to Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) in Newark Airport's airspace last July.
And Duffy, who announced his major plans to overhaul the country's aging air traffic control system earlier this week, blames the Biden administration on recent issues, including the shutdown of air traffic control devices.
“When you're working from home or working as a secretary in Michigan, you probably aren't focusing on the real issues happening across the airspace,” said Duffy, who targeted Battigieg, who lives in Michigan.
Buttigieg responded, “When you are the Director of Transportation, when you are doing tough work, your responsibility is to solve tough problems. You don't have the time to point your fingers or try to blame others.”
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“What I can tell you is that we inherited a shrinking air traffic control worker. We have transformed it into a growing air traffic control worker,” he added. “Of course, my successors don't want my advice, but my advice is to make sure it grows and make the technological change that is actually needed.”
And he said, “We have launched a contract to modernize the FAA's communications backbone and know that it's not something we can do in a year or two. If he can achieve acceleration in it, I will be the first to cheer for it.
