Even the most hardened Republican would have to concede that Pete Buttigieg has a political future, but could that include running for elective office in Michigan?

The whiz kid Democrat who ran for president but failed is also the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

He is now, however, a full-fledged — he calls it adopted — resident of the state of Michigan, as he and his husband, along with their 2-year-old twins, are residents of Traverse City.

In a revealing one-on-one exchange last week while he was on a gig in East Lansing, the current affable U.S. transportation secretary went ’round the mulberry bush on his political future.

“I don’t sit around and thinking” about what to run for next is his current attitude, but he was asked, anyway.

When he discovered that Michigan’s U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow was hanging it up next year, did he think about it?

“It crossed my mind and people asked me about it,” he admits.

He would not disclose with whom he chatted, but he indicates, “I know the job that’s on my plate right now. It didn’t take me long, that, as much as I know that seat has to be in the right hands, those hands aren’t mine.”

He admits it was “flattering” to be asked, but “I thought about it for a minute.”

Understood.

But the pursuit continues.

In 2026, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cannot run again. So, he was asked, “How does Gov. Pete strike you?”

The fog machine is engaged.

“You know, I have a job with two titles that mean a lot to me. One is father, the other is secretary, and both of them keep me busy,” he said.

“But have you ever thought about it?”

The game goes on.

“Not in a serious way,” he retorts.

“Not in a serious way? How does one unseriously think about this? … In your unserious moments, what did you think?”

(Are you laughing, yet? You will be after you read this next line.)

“It’s not a serious answer, ’cause it’s not a serious question,” he said, which has to be one of the best ad-lib dodges ever.

He confesses he doesn’t know what he will do next, but he does know that whatever that is will be inextricably linked to how well he does running the mammoth Transportation Department that regulates everything from train wrecks to jawboning the airline industry to eliminate bogus fees on hapless passengers.

On the governor thing, the law says that, to run for that office, you have to be a resident of the state for four years. Conveniently, he registered to vote in Michigan in 2020.

Do the math. He can run, but, when asked to say he won’t, he says this instead: “I don’t think about how much I want or don’t want, besides the job I’ve got right now.”

Score it Buttigieg one, reporter nada.