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Buttigieg spoke in an interview with the Washington Examiner on his outlook on new media, how to reach the voters who do not fall into the traditional parties, the current political landscape, and what he is doing to ensure the success of his party after leaving the Biden administration.

“I’m using my voice best I can in traditional media and new media, and I’m going to continue having conversations with neighbors, with voters, talking about how we could have a better way,” Buttigieg told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t know what that means for me, politically or professionally, a long way from making any decisions about that, but I know that’s what I need to be doing right now.”

The New York Times’s Ezra Klein named Buttigieg the “Democratic Party’s acknowledged best-of-class communicator” last year, mere weeks before Democrats’ major loss in November. The former Cabinet member has leaned into new and nontraditional media that worked well for Republicans. 

Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump made many appearances on podcasts and forums that young voters pay attention to, one of the most notable being Joe Rogan’s podcast. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continued to demonstrate the party’s use of nontraditional media by inviting conservative podcasters Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh to Trump’s joint address, as the White House has reformed the briefing room with a “new media” seat and access for podcasters.

The Flagrant podcast by Andrew Schulz recently hosted Buttigieg, generating a viral clip on TikTok that has reached over 1.7 million views, where he explained how life can be better for people. Flagrant’s social media also clipped portions of the interview, where he shared his coming out story, reaching 1.2 million views. Schulz’s podcast provided Buttigieg a platform to share his thoughts with a different audience than the typical Fox News or CNN viewer, a role he continued to lean into. 

“It’s certainly shadow primary season. Pete’s strategy so far is on point,” influencer and CEO of Girl and the Gov Sammy Kanter told the Washington Examiner. 

“He’s going on podcasts, and with that, he’s meeting Americans where they are on both sides of the aisle. He’s interacting with creators and taking the online sphere in a serious manner, as it should be. And he’s excelling in that space because he is able to explain complex happenings in an approachable way,” Kanter continued.

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart hosted Buttigieg last month, where he talked about how to bridge the divide between politicians and the people, what life has been like after the Biden administration ended, and the Trump administration’s tariffs.

“There are clearly some people in this White House who think they can use the money they’re gonna get from the stuff were buying at Target, that cost more, that have that tax on it, to substitute for some of the revenue we’re not going to get out of the taxes on the wealthy that they’re moving to cut,” Buttigieg said.

Although early polling is often deemed unreliable as the political climate is rapidly changing, a poll done by Data for Progress in collaboration with Zeteo puts Buttigieg polling just under former Vice President Kamala Harris among voters who are likely to participate in a Democratic presidential primary. Buttigieg polls at 14%, just behind Harris at 18% for a hypothetical Democratic primary. If Harris is taken out, Buttigieg polls in front at 17% with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) right behind him at 14%. 

Many Democratic strategists point out that a problem with the party it stays in a “safe zone” of media outreach, but Buttigieg has done well reaching beyond this zone. 

“Something that Buttigieg has always been good at … is not just staying in the safe zone that so many Washington Democrats do, even though he’s sort of a Washington person, but also kind of not,” one Democratic strategist told the Washington Examiner. 

“Anything that you’re doing that’s different than what older Washington Democrats are doing is automatically a step in the right direction,” the strategist added. 

Throughout the last few years, Buttigieg has made a number of appearances on Fox News where he talked through the platform of the Democratic Party to a more right-of-center audience. He has expressed his concerns for the political environment as a second-term Trump swiftly reforms domestic policy and upends global trade relationships in his first 100 days.

“What I worry is we have a White House that’s trying to consolidate total power, not just government, but over journalism and business and universities, and you have that coupled with a lot of concentration of corporate power, and it’s just, I think it’s a recipe for trouble. I think we can do a lot better as a country,” he told the Washington Examiner.

He said the best way Democrats can play defense is through having conversations, pointing out people “appreciate” when taking the time to be talked to.

“It’s anybody who is troubled by what’s happening, taking the kind of difficult step of talking to somebody in your life who you care about, who maybe didn’t vote the way that you did,” he said.

As Buttigieg seeks to broaden out his messaging, Democrats play defense. The Trump administration consistently uses Buttigieg as a punching bag on a regular basis, with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy blaming his predecessor for DEI problems they’ve tried to link to air travel safety.

“We’ve achieved more in 100 days than Buttigieg and Biden achieved in 4 years. Pete appears unburdened by no longer being a Cabinet secretary. Not one word on transportation or infrastructure because he got nothing done. @POTUS and I will continue the work of ripping out the Green New Scam and DEI for the American people!” Duffy wrote on X last week in response to Buttigieg. 

Buttigieg has remained prominent in the media since he launched his first bid for president in 2019 before later dropping out and endorsing former President Joe Biden, who eventually named him Transportation Secretary, making him the first openly LGBTQ cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate. 

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor keeps a very active social media presence with millions of followers across all platforms, along with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg. His husband has nearly 1 million followers across his Instagram and X accounts. 

Chasten Buttigieg makes appearances across the United States for his children’s book, with Pete Buttigieg joining him on some stops. They both highlight their family life, often showing activities with their two children or milestones for one another, a human side of politics that is not often portrayed across social media. 

“The most important thing is to find people anywhere you can, and a lot of audiences whose votes my party needs to do a better job of earning aren’t watching TV,” Pete Buttigieg said. “The other thing I think is really important about the creative world is … there are audiences that are not presorted based on being loyal to this or that party.”

A graduate of Harvard and the University of Oxford, Pete Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend in 2012, where he held that position through early 2020. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves and was deployed in 2014 to Kabul, Afghanistan, as an intelligence officer.

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Since departing from Washington, Pete Buttigieg has settled with his family in Michigan, where he had split his time during his time as secretary. 

“It’s been really healthy for me to be at home, and the kinds of conversations I have when I run into somebody at Target, or when I’m dropping the kids off at school, talking to the other parents,” Pete Buttigieg continued. “Those are the kinds of things that I turn over in my mind when I think about what needs to be different in our politics.”