Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - GOP closes ranks to fill SCOTUS vacancy by November Buttigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Hillicon Valley: FBI, DHS warn that foreign hackers will likely spread disinformation around election results | Social media platforms put muscle into National Voter Registration Day | Trump to meet with Republican state officials on tech liability shield MORE said in a new interview that his meteoric rise as a 2020 contender has “created some challenges.”



The South Bend, Ind., mayor told The Associated Press that his supporters have basically had to “organize themselves.”

“We need to make sure we have the organizational strengths to sustain this wave of support that we’ve been getting for the last almost month and a half now,” he said. “It’s created some challenges to rise this far this fast, but I would put those in the category of a good problem to have.”

ADVERTISEMENT

An openly gay veteran of the Afghanistan War, Buttigieg has seen his candidacy take off and many early polls have him in the top five among all 2020 Democratic candidates.

The AP notes Buttigieg is not expected to create a massive campaign operation similar to other more prominent candidates. At the end of March, he only had about a dozen paid staffers on his campaign, according to federal filings reviewed by the news outlet.

His campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl, told the AP that Buttigieg has more than 30 paid staffers and that number could grow to as high as 50 by the end of the month.

“We want to build a campaign that’s a little disruptive, kind of entrepreneurial. Right now, it feels like a startup,” said Schmuhl.

Buttigieg is already fundraising well, pulling in more than $7 million in the two months before formally announcing his candidacy last week.

Additionally, he has already garnered enough individual donors to appear in the first Democratic primary debate.

Amid the early success, Buttigieg said he is frequently reminded that he still has work to do.

“Every time I fool myself into thinking I’m a household name, I get a humbling reminder somewhere that not everybody is following the blow by blow,” he said at a campaign event in New Hampshire over the weekend, according to the AP.