Buttigieg faces his ‘biggest test yet’ in Baltimore bridge collapse

When a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, Pete Buttigieg drew criticism for not showing up right away.

In responding to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — a far different crisis, this time at the center of his portfolio — he’s not making that mistake again.

On the day the bridge collapsed, Buttigieg had planned a trip to Wyoming and Montana — what would have amounted to his 47th and 48th states visited as Transportation secretary — to tour infrastructure projects. But before leaving from Dulles International Airport on Tuesday, his work cell phone buzzed not long after the bridge collapsed at 1:30 a.m. He spent time on the phone with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, and the state’s congressional delegation.

By 5 a.m., it was clear his trip out west would be off. He briefed President Joe Biden by phone, and was on the ground meeting with first responders later that day.

“It's definitely one of the most striking and extreme emergency situations that we've faced,” Buttigieg told POLITICO in an interview on Wednesday, not long after briefing Biden in the Oval Office, and then later, the press. “We've obviously encountered issues with aviation safety, with rail safety. But to have a major maritime incident, and a major bridge incident, all wrapped up into one is definitely calling on all of the resources that we have at the department. And I’m giving it everything I've got.”

The Biden administration and its partners face a three-fold challenge: reopen the port, which falls to the U.S. Coast Guard, deal with the supply chain challenge, and rebuild the bridge, Buttigieg said from the podium at the White House press briefing. In part, his response builds on the work his office has already done to alleviate supply chain issues that once threatened to delay the arrival of Christmas presents.

And for Buttigieg, it is a political challenge as well. Though he has said his only current ambition “is to be the best secretary of Transportation that I can,” the failed 2020 presidential candidate may run for political office again. And as with his every move, his management of the crisis will be a closely scrutinized part of his resume.

“No question about it: his biggest test yet, and he’s handled it with flying colors,” said former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the former Republican congress member from Illinois who keeps in regular touch with Buttigieg.

Buttigieg is not untested. Before the bridge collapse, he had to contend with Covid-induced supply chain snarls, air travel meltdowns and a train derailment in the heart of his native Midwest. At almost every turn, the role has delivered its share of unprecedented opportunities and pitfalls. On the positive side, he helped sell Biden’s signature legislative accomplishment in the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, then hopscotched ribbon cuttings in battleground states over the last year. The onetime aspirant for the U.N. ambassadorship has even racked up some foreign policy experience, pitching a new Marshall Plan to rebuild Ukrainian infrastructure, traveling to Kyiv and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

There are signs he learned lessons from the criticism that he wasn’t immediately on site in the aftermath of East Palestine, even if that expectation didn’t exist for previous transportation secretaries responding to similar derailments.

“Every disaster, emergency or crisis that you face informs how you deal with the next one,” Buttigieg said.

One former Buttigieg aide granted anonymity to speak freely said Buttigieg’s arrival on the scene in Baltimore to meet with first responders demonstrates “his understanding, especially as a former mayor, of the importance of showing up and being there on the ground, and coordinating directly” with state, local and port officials.

In Washington, Buttigieg’s challenge will include outreach to the Hill to cover emergency funding, after Biden said the federal government will pay the costs of rebuilding the bridge. Buttigieg built legislative relationships while pushing the bipartisan infrastructure law to members of Congress in 2021, though the funding path for the bridge reconstruction is unlikely to be as complicated as that was.

“The relationships that we've built, advocating for the bill, passing it and then implementing it are definitely serving us well in this crisis situation,” Buttigieg said.

He’ll have to marshal resources within his department as well. “He's going to have to pull his whole team together, and all hands on deck, to make this work,” LaHood said.

Buttigieg is now working on a response to the state emergency relief request from the Maryland Department of Transportation, and then meeting with shippers and supply chain players.

"Now it's time to really have a more direct conversation about what they think the implications will be,” he said.

It is likely they will still be ongoing after Buttigieg leaves the administration. Buttigieg told POLITICO earlier this month he does not plan to stay in the role longer than five years, and LaHood said efforts to rebuild the bridge will likely outlast Buttigieg’s DOT tenure.

“The rebuilding of this bridge is going to take several years,” LaHood said. “Planning is going to take a couple of years, and the rebuild is going to take several years. But he can lay the groundwork and the blueprint. And if he does that, whoever succeeds him will have a good game plan.”