Philip M. Bailey

People probably wonder, why is Pete Buttigieg doing this?

I think it's clearly a tryout for Buttigieg's pending potential 2028 presidential race.

Pete Buttigieg is known as the Democrat willing to go on Fox News, going into these conservative spaces, not afraid to try to flip areas the Democrats are normally not that well welcomed in.

And there's no better place to start than Georgia's 14th congressional district.

Right.

Big picture Democrats still raw, particularly younger Democrats, still raw from what they feel like was just a fumble in the 2024 election when you look back and see Joe Biden's performance in that debate.

But even before that, there were questions and media folks like myself and others were poking these questions about the president's former president's acuity and age and how much that was affecting his decision making or ability to run a campaign and even be president.

of the United States.

Well, now you're seeing that show up in these 2026 primaries on the Democratic side.

You're seeing a lot of younger Democrats running and taking on long-time incumbents, elderly incumbents.

Some of them, like Steny Hoy, for example, just bowing out and saying, hey, I'm retiring.

I get the message.

I don't want to run for another term.

Some like Bennie Thompson, Congressman out of Mississippi's second congressional district, who was the co-chair, if everyone remembers, of the January 6th committee back a few years ago during the Biden years, 78 years old, long-time member, veteran member, certainly institutional memory there, was challenged by 34-year-old Evan Turnitch, who was a former aide and assistant to Elizabeth Warren, Senator of Massachusetts, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

So he had the credentials.

But he certainly didn't have the votes.

He was overwhelmingly defeated in that race.

But I do think that Turnage even running in the first place, similar to the challenge we saw against Al Green, the congressman out of Texas with the younger challenger there, we're seeing these younger Democrats, these millennial Democrats, these Gen Z Democratic candidates say, you know what, we want a crack at this because we're going to be the ones living with the environment, living with the debt, living with these wars and decisions that are being made by when you look at the Senate and you look at Donald Trump.

who's pushing 80, right?

Like you're not having younger men, younger women making these decisions.