Pete Buttigieg
A poll shows 40 percent of Michigan Democrats favor former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttgieg for U.S. Senate in 2026, with 16 percent giving the nod to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. All other potential candidates were favored by 3 percent or less.
The poll was conducted by Blueprint, a public opinion research initiative which was originally created to determine what was needed for Democrats to win in 2024.
The poll, which was conducted Jan. 30 and Feb. 2 among 536 likely Democratic voters, has a margin of error of minus or plus 4.2 percentage points.
Blueprint's analysis of the Senate race is as follows:
In scenario A, Pete Buttigieg is the overwhelming front-runner. He struggles with Blackvoters and nearly a third of the electorate remains undecided, but his strength with educated voters, white liberals, makes him the odds-on favorite to win the nomination.
In scenario B, in which Buttigieg decides not to run, Dana Nessel takes the position of the front-runner, arguably even more securely than Buttigieg. Unlike Buttigieg, she does well with Black voters (particularly with Gilchrist deciding not to run), and she is equally strong among those with a college degree and those without.
No one has officially announced a bid for Senate, but reports say Buttigieg, who lives in Traverse City, is seriously considering a run.
Other Democrats mentioned include: U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten, of Grand Rapids, and Haley Stevens, of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, of Royal Oak.
On the Republican side, those mentioned have included former Congressman Mike Rogers, and Congressmen John James and Bill Huizenga of west Michigan.
The poll states about Nessel:
Most importantly, her strength cannot be solely chalked up to better name ID. In the four-person race (without Buttigieg or Gilchrist), among voters who have a favorable view of Stevens, Nessel leads Stevens 44%-13%; among voters with a favorable view of Scholten, Nessel leads Scholten 41%-21%; and among the small number of voters who know and have a favorable view of McMorrow, Nessel leads McMorrow 40%-33%.
