While Buttigieg says he’s not contemplating the race to be Biden’s successor, inside the West Wing, others are imagining it for him. His name is sometimes discussed by aides as a natural Democratic presidential nominee in 2028 — or 2024 if the president opts not to run.

“Nobody in the West Wing shuts that down,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations. “It’s very open.”

The chatter has frustrated some staffers of color who see it as disrespectful to Kamala Harris — the first Black woman vice president — and think senior officials should tamp it down. Some of Buttigieg’s former campaign staffers also question whether challenging Harris is feasible given how critical the Black vote is in any Democratic primary, and how Buttigieg struggled to attract those voters the last time around. But there is some existing infrastructure waiting in the wings…

The current round of presidential speculation comes at a particularly consequential moment for Buttigieg. The Democratic Party is scouring for the next generation of leaders, even more so amid the persistent questions about whether Biden will decide to run for re-election. His aides insist that running again is his “intention,” as White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. But some Democrats see that language as equivocal.