Buttigieg’s allies at Win the Era Fund appear to be preserving his political apparatus in case the right opportunity arises.
As President Joe Biden’s first term comes to an end, at least one of his own cabinet officials is continuing to keep his political options open behind the scenes.
Win the Era Action Fund, a nonprofit issue advocacy group founded by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in March 2020, raised $370,240 in 2022, up from just $61,654 the year before, according to a 990 tax form reviewed by National Review, a modest but still eyebrow-raising haul that signals his allies are gradually ramping up Buttigieg’s political apparatus as he continues to serve in his former Democratic presidential primary rival’s administration.
Win the Era Action Fund has operated independently of Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, since Biden tapped him to serve as transportation secretary in December 2020. And Buttigieg told Punchbowl News a year ago that he’s “not going anywhere,” and that he serves “at the pleasure of the president, for the time being.”
But the 501(c)(4) Buttigieg founded also notably spent $317,055 in 2022, up from $177,179 the year before, which suggests his allies are keen on setting him up for another run for office after he concludes his tenure in Biden’s cabinet should the right opportunity arise. (The group raised $2.1 million and spent $2 million in 2020, the same year Buttigieg ran for president.)
The issues tab of the advocacy group’s website currently lists “racial equity,” “climate change,” “economic justice,” “democracy reform,” “mental health,” and “national service” as its main policy priorities.
Serving as the group’s board chair since its inception is Swati Mylavarapu, who previously served as national finance chair for his 2020 presidential campaign. The group’s vice chair is Buttigieg bundler Nicole Fox. Win the Era Action Fund and is not legally required to disclose its donors, even though the group reportedly pledged to start disclosing donations over $250 back in 2021, according to Business Insider.
The Buttigieg-aligned political action committee of the same name stayed in the campaign fray last cycle by endorsing a number of down-ballot Democratic candidates during the 2022 midterms. The PAC was relatively inactive last year, raising roughly $67,000 and spending $151,456.86 during the same period, with most of that cash going to administrative, compliance and consulting fees.
But as the president’s first term comes to an end Win the Era PAC is still sitting on a decent amount of cash — $1.5 million on hand as of January 1 — no small sum should he want to run for office after his tenure in Biden’s cabinet.
As Politico reported in a story about the Buttigieg-aligned groups in December 2022: PACs and nonprofit advocacy groups “can serve as outlets for aspiring politicians to raise funds, bring on staff, and do the grunt work that usually precedes a future campaign. They can also keep a former candidate in the game as he or she temporarily leaves the world of electoral politics although a person close to the PAC noted Buttigieg would have to buy Win the Era’s list back if he wanted to use it for a future campaign.”
If Buttigieg seeks higher office after his Biden administration gig comes to a close, he’ll of course have to somehow overcome the political blowback of various transportation-related disasters that have occurred during his tenure as transportation secretary, including Southwest Airlines’ holiday scheduling meltdown in December 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration system outage in January 2023, the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023, and the grounding of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 last month after a door plug was blown out mid-flight — to name just a few.