Joe Biden, the U.S. president-elect, intends to nominate former South Bend City Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the Department of Transportation's (DOT) highest leadership role, Biden's transition campaign said Tuesday. Buttigieg, Biden's nominee to become the U.S. secretary of transportation, would succeed Elaine Chao if elected for the role.
The nominee would align DOT's efforts with Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that calls for increased job creation, sustainable infrastructure and other progress-focused efforts.
“I am nominating him for secretary of transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us,” Biden said about Buttigieg.
Buttigieg led the city of South Bend over an eight-year tenure and has contributed military service as an intelligence officer from the U.S. Navy's reserve force, having been deployed to Afghanistan.