Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. | Scott Eisen/Getty Images 2020 elections Buttigieg plans big-donor summit in Iowa

Pete Buttigieg's senior staff is huddling with donors and activists for a series of strategy events in Iowa over the weekend, according to a schedule obtained by POLITICO.

Before Buttigieg’s attendance at Saturday's Polk County Steak Fry, an Iowa political tradition, and the all-candidate forum, the campaign scheduled a private evening dinner with donors on Friday night. The Buttigieg campaign will then invite donors to a “working dinner and strategy session” with senior staff on Saturday at a hotel in downtown Des Moines.


"You will hear about our path to victory in the early states, interact with other members of the Investors Circle, and strategize how to further strengthen our fundraising operations before the end of the quarter," reads the emailed invitation to donors, which is signed by Anthony Mercurio, the Buttigieg campaign's national investment director.

A person familiar with the retreat expected two to three dozen donors will attend.

Buttigieg hosted a similar donor retreat during the first Democratic National Committee debate in Miami in June, when senior staff briefed nearly 100 donors on the campaign’s transformation from a shoestring operation to a full-fledged, well-financed presidential campaign.

While Buttigieg's donors and staff gather Saturday night, the South Bend, Ind., mayor will kick off his own version of the "Straight-Talk Express," a four-day bus tour with the media joining Buttigieg for the entire time.

Buttigieg raised nearly $25 million during the past quarter of the year, an enormous haul that vaulted him into the upper tier of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. In recent weeks, his campaign has focused on rapidly building out its on-the-ground infrastructure in the early nominating states. Buttigieg, who has hovered in the midsingle digits in national polling, has opened more than 30 field offices across Iowa and New Hampshire this month.