The new father of adopted twin boys told Politico on Friday during an event at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport that he's relishing in his time off of the campaign trail and is focused on being in President Biden's government.
He spoke after a week that Biden aides were struggling to maintain the president running again in 2024 and following reports that Kamala Harris is being sidelined in the administration.
President Biden's support has also fallen below 40 percent in recent weeks, and Kamala's slumped to as low as 29 percent in a survey earlier this month.
Buttigieg has a higher support rate than both Biden and Harris with six points more than the president and 12 points more than the vice president, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll.
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The poll also reveals that Buttigieg has the highest name acknowledgment of any other member of the Biden administration – besides the president and vice president. Eighty-three percent of respondents were familiar with Buttigieg's name.
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"I'd say the other thing that I'm really enjoying about this job, although it's very demanding and obviously requiring a lot, is that this is the least I have had to think about campaigns and elections in about a decade and that's a very good thing," he said in the interview published Wednesday.
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Since 2010, Buttigieg, 39, has run for treasurer of Indiana, mayor of South Bend, chair of the Democratic National Committee, and president of the United States. And even though Buttigieg isn't thinking about what comes next, there is interest in him being Biden's successor.
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Inside the West Wing, Buttigieg's name has hovered as aides consider the Democratic presidential nominee for 2028 or even 2024 if Biden wishes not to run for reelection.
"Nobody in the West Wing shuts that down," one person with knowledge of the conversations told Politico. "It's very open."
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The White House claims that despite rumors of being a one-term president, Biden has no intentions of not seeking a second term.
"Over the weekend, there were reports that President Biden was telling allies that he is going to run for reelection in 2024. Can you confirm? Is he going to run in 2024? Is he telling the staff that?" a reporter questioned White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki en route to Fort Bragg on Monday evening.
"He is," she said. "That's his intention."
Biden, 79, has said both publicly and privately he will run for a second term in 2024, but the behind-the-scenes outreach shows how jittery Democrats are about their leader.
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