The Atlantic Wonders If a Bearded Pete Buttigieg Can Convince America He’s a Man of the People

Don't think we haven't noticed. Ever since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term and a bearded JD Vance was elected vice president, Democrats have been growing their facial hair. Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Chris Murphy, and Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are now sporting beards.

Speaking of Buttigieg, The Atlantic must have wanted to give his 2028 campaign a boost, even though he's polling at zero percent with black voters. Buttigieg's hurdle to overcome? Perhaps he's too well-educated to connect with white, male voters. Will the beard help spur a "Dudes for Buttigieg" uprising?

Pete Buttigieg—the Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and McKinsey alum—now has a beard and a splitting maul, @gcaw reports. Can he convince America he’s a man of the people? https://t.co/Em5eYkBgVf
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) March 3, 2026

No.

No. Next question?
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) March 3, 2026

Graeme Wood writes:

Worse than being underused, however, is being used in a campaign destined for failure. In 2024, Kamala Harris contemplated choosing Buttigieg as her running mate, then decided it was too “risky” to bring a gay man onto the ticket. “We were already asking a lot of America,” she wrote in her memoir. In a rare lack of grace, Buttigieg has never thanked her for that sleight: Being passed over has left Buttigieg the most prominent Biden stalwart to remain viable as candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2028.
…
Later we dropped the kids at camp, then visited Pete’s in-laws’ property. Chasten’s parents, Terry and Sherri, help with child care and design and sell Christmas wreaths out of a barn—an occupation that rates a solid 10 out of 10 on the Norman Rockwell scale. Then came lunch at a shop that sold Cornish pasties—an empanada-like savory food, “quintessentially a UP thing,” Pete said, referring to the Upper Peninsula, because “you can take them camping or hunting.” We stopped at a bakery to pick up hamburger buns. The day ended with the same kid-related disarray that it began with: a cherry cone at Moomers Homemade Ice Cream, a rustic scoop shop that no less an authority than Good Morning America named the best in the country in 2008.