Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is taking pains to distance himself from McKinsey, the elite consulting firm where the former South Bend mayor worked after graduate school.

But Buttigieg’s ties to McKinsey still run deep throughout his campaign, including through the ranks of deep-pocketed donors who help fund it. Forty McKinsey employees have donated to Buttigieg’s campaign, including those involved in the firm’s corporate restructuring, banking and biotech, private equity, pharmaceutical, defense industry and oil and gas divisions.

Those donors include top-tier employees for the firm. Gary Pinkus, the chairman of McKinsey in North America, donated $2,800. Adam Barth, from McKinsey’s Houston office who consults utilities for the company, donated $2,800. Rajesh Parekh, a senior partner who heads McKinsey’s pharmaceuticals and medical products practice, donated $2,000. Kurt Chauviere, a partner who specializes in banking and corporate restructuring for McKinsey, gave $1,000.

McKinsey employees have also headlined or been slated to headline fundraising events for Buttigieg. And according to multiple analyses of Federal Election Commission filings, Buttigieg has received more donations from McKinsey employees than any other Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential field.

The ongoing support suggests that, at the least, Buttigieg will continue to face tough criticism about McKinsey throughout his time on the campaign trail, even as he pivots away from the company.

The Buttigieg campaign has focused less on his time at McKinsey and more on what strategists call “kitchen table issues” – economic issues that affect everyday Americans. Buttigieg himself has penned op-eds and laced that subject area into his speeches. His campaign has also been running ads on digital platforms hyping his campaign’s economic platform.

On Friday the campaign released an ad featuring the Iowa state senator Bill Dotzler describing how Buttigieg is “committed to raising the economic security of Iowans”. That ad is the latest in a series of TV and digital ads airing in Iowa and New Hampshire, focused on economic issues. The ads don’t cite his time at McKinsey.

Buttigieg has removed the word “businessman” from his Twitter bio, said in a recent debate that his time as an associate at the consulting firm was not the “biggest part” of his career and called “bullshit” when a New York Times editorial board member suggested that Buttigieg was directly involved in a bread pricing scandal related to McKinsey.

In the past Buttigieg more closely tied himself to the firm. When he ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in Indiana he leaned heavily on his three years at McKinsey. But as some of the firm’s controversial dealings have come to light, he has taken extra steps to demystify anything he did at the company and also voice disagreement with some of the firm’s practices in recent years.

Buttigieg has been dogged by pressing questions and criticism of his Buttigieg’s tenure there. Buttigieg, from the start of his presidential campaign, has emphasized that he worked more on grocery pricing and later revealed that other clients included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Resources Defense Council, among others.

Buttigieg has denied involvement in any of the controversial work the company did but that hasn’t stopped McKinsey from serving as a flashpoint for his critics or defenders.

It’s unclear how the barrage of attacks will play in the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, which Buttigieg campaign officials recently told donors is key to his long-term prospects in the presidential race. Ian Bremmer, a political scientist and founder of the political risk and consulting firm Eurasia Group, said that Buttigieg’s McKinsey work is unlikely to prove to be a liability in Iowa.

“It’s a New York thing. It’s a DC thing,” Bremmer said, adding most of the criticism about Buttigieg’s time at McKinsey has been “ludicrous” and “beyond stupid”. “He was a junior consultant. He was working 80 hours a week doing scuttwork on whatever client they tell him to work on. There is literally zero autonomy for these people.”

Bremmer said that the criticism of Buttigieg really just “shows perniciousness in an attempt to smear the guy”.

Some of the toughest news cycles for Buttigieg during the campaign have involved his fundraising practices, providing ammunition for opponents who say the candidate is too closely linked to corporate largesse.

About a month after revelations about a fundraiser in a wine cave in California, the Buttigieg campaign has increased security to prevent leaks at fundraisers. Donors were asked to check their phones at a fundraising cattle call in Chicago over the weekend where high-ranking Buttigieg campaign officials, including his campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl; senior strategist Michael Halle; the national constituency director, Hasoni Pratts; and the national policy director, Sonal Shah; laid out the state of the campaign and their path through Iowa and New Hampshire.

Buttigieg’s time at McKinsey was not a major topic of discussion, according to multiple Democratic with knowledge of the meeting.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal for voters,” one Buttigieg donor said of McKinsey. “It’s a salient issue only for the elites, for the chattering class. But most voters don’t know what McKinsey is, let alone care that he worked for a supermarket chain and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.”

But Murshed Zaheed, a veteran progressive strategist, said Buttigieg’s McKinsey ties won’t go away and are an ongoing liability.

“I think what McKinsey has done is it has cast a dark pall over his campaign on a number of fronts because I think it has cast a shadow of questions when it comes to transparency and ethics,” Zaheed said. “His whole time at McKinsey really raises questions about his cosiness to Wall Street.”