One is a former mayor, White House hopeful, and Transportation Secretary. The other preaches from the pulpit once claimed by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he isn’t casting votes in the Senate.
Neither Pete Buttigieg nor Sen. Rafael Warnock of Georgia are on the ballot this year, but both have been all over the campaign trail, stumping for candidates across the country ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Democratic operatives say they are two of the most in-demand boosters this cycle. While the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York are surefire base pleasers and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are draws for legacy Democrats, Warnock and Buttigieg offer an efficient and plain-spoken manner that admirers say cuts across ideologies and generations.
It’s the kind of positive feedback that is sure to gain notice as handicapping for the 2028 presidential race begins in earnest after Tuesday.
And, coincidentally, both men’s stump schedules have sent them to places that may prove crucial to anyone with White House ambitions. Just last month, Warnock made stops in South Carolina, which is due to kick off the Democratic nominating calendar, as well as Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He also dipped into Mississippi as Democrats are hopeful that a Blue Wave might just be big enough to flip a Senate seat there.
Read more: The Key Congressional Races to Watch on Election Night
Meanwhile, Buttigieg has campaigned in 38 states this year—18 of them more than once. His final week of campaign travel alone had him in Michigan and Wisconsin—both recent swing states—as well as Colorado and Minnesota. All told, Buttigieg has campaigned for more than 70 candidates in person this cycle—including 24 House hopefuls in Republican districts marked by national Democrats as top contenders for flipping.
Both itineraries suggest the hustle of someone already running for President.
Democratic strategists say each figure brings a unique constituency to the table. But they share an overlapping ability to inspire activists’ imaginations while also appealing to middle-of-the-road voters who just want to skip past the partisan screaming that seems to dominate the discourse this late in the campaign.
“No one confuses these guys for socialists,” says one Democratic strategist who has pushed for the party to move back to the center.
Adds a second: “These guys aren’t hacks.”
Buttigieg, a Harvard-educated veteran who is a technocrat at his core, has become, along with his husband Chasten, favored advocates for the Democratic brand. Buttigieg has proven an able sparring partner with Fox News personalities, showing how Democrats can go into unfriendly territory and hold their own. It’s why the former Mayor of South Bend, Ind., who ran the Department of Transportation in the Biden Administration, is a frequent mention when Democrats mull their bench for 2028. In August, Buttigieg said he’s “more inclined than not” to launch another White House run.
“One of the things the voters have seen is the loud-mouth guy at the end of the bar is a source of noise but not a source of strength,” Buttigieg said during a swing through New Hampshire for the Senate campaign of Rep. Chris Pappas. “Right now, voters are looking for the strength that comes with discipline and not chaos. People have had enough of the chaos. They want people to get things done.”
Warnock, meanwhile, has made inroads with a different slice of the Democratic Party. Representing a swing state that was not too long ago viewed as deep-red, he is a clear-eyed pragmatist in the Senate, where he has managed to work with Republicans like Ted Cruz on infrastructure programs and has privately counseled colleagues on showing restraint during heated moments. Warnock has maintained his role as the senior pastor at the Atlanta church once led by King, and is known among colleagues as the Reverend Senator. His stump speeches are often regarded by attendees more as sermons than straight politicking.
“We lose elections by the margins of our disengagement,” Warnock said during a visit to another deep-red state last month. “Mississippi is a blue state. It just doesn’t know it yet.”
When asked in September if he planned to launch a presidential bid, Warnock responded, “We’ll see what happens.”
The two men are among a long list of aspiring Presidents showing up for fellow Democrats on the trail. Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Mark Kelly of Arizona have all been popular draws from the savvy and curious members of their party eager to start building for a post-Donald Trump era. Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland are certainly in the mix. And a pair of Michiganders, Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, are also discussed.
But it’s Warnock and Buttigieg who are proving to be the most dynamic surrogates for swing-state candidates given their communications skills.
Warnock’s connection with Black voters in particular has drawn the attention of grateful candidates looking to shore up that crucial voting bloc. Last month, he dashed to Detroit to lend his credibility to Abdul El-Sayed, who is locked in a tense and pivotal Senate race in Michigan against Rep. Mike Rogers. “This is not just for our U.S. Senate seat,” El-Sayed said on Oct. 20. “It is for control of the entire United States Senate. There's a reason that the Reverend is here. It's because he really wants to make sure that he's not in the minority for the next two years.”
True. But that’s only part of it.
