So today I was scrolling through Twitter, right? Saw this hashtag trending about Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom teaming up on something. Got curious. Like, are these two actually working together or is this just internet chatter? Figured I’d dig in.
Where I Started
First thing I did was hit up both their official gov websites. Started with Buttigieg’s DOT stuff. Scrolled through press releases, news sections, anything recent. Honestly? Mostly updates on infrastructure projects – roads, bridges, that kind of thing. Nothing screaming “Big Partnership with California!”
Then switched over to Governor Newsom’s site. Loads of stuff on wildfires, the economy, California-specific bills. Again, nothing jumped out mentioning Buttigieg directly.
The Search Gets Messy
Got a bit stuck here. Thought maybe they’d issued a joint statement somewhere official. Checked a few big news outlet sites – you know the usual ones. Searched “Buttigieg Newsom partnership.” Found a couple articles from like 6 months ago mentioning them both being at some White House climate meeting, but no actual news about them launching something together now. Most pieces were just comparing them as potential future presidential candidates. Useless for my purpose.
Trying Social Media
Went back to Twitter. Checked both their official accounts. Scrolled down their feeds.
- Buttigieg: Talkin’ air travel refunds, electric buses.
- Newsom: California gas prices, drought conditions, signing some bill.
No retweets of each other. No “@” mentions wishing luck on a shared project. Zilch. Checked Pete’s replies too – same deal.
The Lightbulb Moment (or Maybe Not)
At this point, I was scratching my head. Maybe “working together” wasn’t about a new, shiny project? Thought about their jobs. Buttigieg runs federal transportation. Newsom runs a state heavily invested in tech and climate stuff. California definitely gets federal cash for roads, electric vehicle chargers, rail stuff like that.
Tried searching “California Department of Transportation federal grants” and looked under Buttigieg’s DOT news releases. Found a bunch of announcements from this year where DOT awarded money to California for specific projects. But… the press releases were like, “US DOT Announces Funding for X Project.” Newsom’s office might then put out their own release celebrating it. But they never shared a stage. No joint press conference audio. No video of them shaking hands over a new bridge project funded by Pete.
The Reality Check
So, are they “working together”? In the most basic, boring government way? Probably. California uses federal money Pete manages. His department sends it their way. Newsom’s people accept it. They run the project. It’s mechanical. Routine.
But this trendy talk online about a “partnership”? Seems way overblown. From what I can see digging through official stuff and their online presence, there’s zero evidence of them cooking up something special right now outside that normal federal-state pipeline. No new policy alliance unveiled. No big shared initiative launched. Feels more like people projecting presidential race drama onto basic governance stuff. Just politics as usual.
