Buttigieg in December arrived at four key swing states — New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia — to back the law. He’s also ready to play a big role in helping Democrats in competitive districts in the 2022 midterm elections.
After a relatively strong first year in office, allies and supporters see a great option for the former South Bend, Ind., mayor in the next year.
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“Right now, Buttigieg is the most prominent outwardly facing member of the administration and he’s handled that position so far with aplomb and has done a great service to the Biden administration,” said former Rep. Chris Carney (D-Pa.), a Biden ally.
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Vice President Harris accompanied Buttigieg on the journey to Charlotte, N.C., where the two traveled to the public transit facility at the Charlotte Area Transit System’s bus garage and met with transit workers.
Buttigieg and Harris are both seen as possible successors of Biden, who plans to run for reelection in 2024 if his health allows it. Biden will be 81 in the next election year, which has led to persistent questions about whether he will stick to his plans of running for reelection.
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Executing the infrastructure law will give Buttigieg new possibilities to stick out.
“I think Secretary Buttigieg will appear in a lot of swing states, touting the benefits of the infrastructure bill but also probably poke at those Republicans in the swing states that voted against it,” Carney said.
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The law, which had GOP support in both chambers but especially in the Senate, polls favorably with voters, with 50 percent backing the legislation in November, down from 58 percent in August before it passed.
In the end, some say Buttigieg will be criticized by how funds are allocated and whether projects are shovel-ready and create good jobs.
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Joseph Geevarghese, executive director at Our Revolution, a grassroots-funded progressive organization, said that there are many open questions about if projects will start instantly and not in five or 10 years.
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“I think there’s an opportunity for him to elevate his profile and to use this as a platform to do so. That being said, the devil is always going to be in the details about the implementation of these policies, and I think how this is implemented remains to be seen,” he said.
“For me, the challenge will be, it is not necessarily clear the bipartisan infrastructure bill by itself is going to deliver good union jobs,” Geevarghese added.