It wasn’t just Kamala Harris. No, during the 2020 Democratic primary, presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg also supported taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for federal inmates and illegal immigrants.
The former mayor of South Bend, Ind.—now eyeing the 2026 Michigan Senate race—told the American Civil Liberties Union in 2019 that, if elected, he would use executive authority to ensure that federal inmates and illegal immigrants have access to "comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care."
"I would direct my HHS Office of Civil Rights and Department of Justice to vigorously enforce all federal laws against discrimination based on gender identity, including ensuring the provision of all medically necessary care for transgender Americans," Buttigieg wrote in response to the question. "This includes medical care for transgender individuals incarcerated in federal prisons and under immigration detention."
A spokesman for Buttigieg told the Free Beacon that he "made clear his position that the law must be applied equally and fairly to all people seeking necessary care, and that he would faithfully enforce all federal laws against discrimination."
Buttigieg also told the ACLU, in response to a survey sent to all presidential candidates, that he was committed to reducing the federal prison population by 50 percent during his presidency and to shrinking the size of the country's immigration detention system by slashing funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Buttigieg’s responses are newly relevant given his interest in jumping into the Michigan Senate race, certain to be one of the most hotly contested races of the midterm election cycle in the wake of Democratic incumbent Gary Peters’s announcement that he will not run for reelection.
But Buttigieg’s left-wing social views may prove problematic in the swing state, which President Donald Trump—as well as the state’s Democratic Senate candidate, Elissa Slotkin—carried in November.
Peters, among others, has expressed enthusiasm about Buttigieg’s prospects. "He has high name ID. And probably, from his previous run for president, also has got a network for fundraising. I would certainly expect he’d be able to raise a lot of money. So certainly he’d be very strong," Peters told Semafor last week. The outlet also cited a poll showing that Buttigieg has the highest name ID and net favorability rating, at 65 percent, of all Democrats considering jumping into the race.
The responses from Buttigieg and Harris to the ACLU survey came at a time when both candidates were looking to differentiate themselves in a crowded field.
Buttigieg also pledged, in the same survey, to commit to reducing the size of the "immigration detention system by at least 75%," including by "cutting ICE’s detention budget" and "ending requirements that immigrants post bonds they cannot afford."
"This is the right thing to do," Buttigieg said in a written response. "We need to do this as quickly as we can. This is not just a security question, it’s a moral question. People are fleeing violence and terrorism and we are locking them up."
Now, Buttigieg's spokesman says he "does not support slashing ICE's detention budget" but continues to back "immigration reforms like quicker processing and better asylum adjudication will reduce the levels of prolonged detention in our system."
The about face may hurt Buttigieg in his new home state, according to former National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Ward Baker, who told the Free Beacon that the Harvard-educated former McKinsey consultant is not a natural fit for "the state's blue-collar, working-class mold."
"The reason Trump won the state in 2024 was his strength with non-college voters—they will be key again in 2026 for Senate," Baker said, adding that illegal immigration "moves numbers with Independents."
Harris’s response to the question about gender transition surgeries for federal inmates dogged her throughout the 2024 presidential race after it was first reported by CNN and became the subject of a massive ad buy from the Trump campaign to promote what became the defining ad of the race, which concluded: "Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you."
Buttigieg, who made headlines as transportation secretary for taking a lengthy paternity leave without announcing his absence to the public, is likely to have to compete in a Democratic primary should he decide to jump into the race. Other potential contenders include the state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, state senator Mallory McMorrow, and House Reps. Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten.
Several Republicans are eyeing the race including former Rep. Mike Rogers, who lost narrowly in November to Sen. Elissa Slotkin, as well as Republican congressmen Bill Huizenga and John James.