Here’s How Much Pete Buttigieg Received From His ‘Secret’ McKinsey Clients
Pete Buttigieg's list of McKinsey donors has finally surfaced. How will it impact his presidential run? | Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP
- Among his former clients at McKinsey, Pete Buttigieg is the leading recipient of donations.
- Some of Buttigieg’s most generous donors are insiders from a private health insurance provider.
- The South Bend mayor is against abolishing private health insurance.
The list of clients that Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg worked for while at McKinsey & Co is no longer a secret.
This comes after the mayor of South Bend, Indiana finally succumbed to pressure and disclosed the organizations he serviced while working at the management consulting giant. He had withstood the pressure to reveal his record at McKinsey for nearly eight months. Buttigieg, who has emerged as a moderate, announced his presidential run in April.
What can also be revealed are the amounts that insiders have contributed to his campaign. Some of the clients Buttigieg worked for at McKinsey and whose insiders have contributed to his campaign include Best Buy, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, U.S. Postal Service and Natural Resources Defense Council.
The total amount he has raised from insiders at these organizations so far is $111,510, according to Center for Responsive Politics . That’ more than double what other front runners such as Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden have received from insiders at the listed organizations.
What rivals got from Buttigieg’s McKinsey clients
Biden got a total of $39,390 while Warren received $48,332. The only Democratic presidential candidate who received more from the listed organizations is Bernie Sanders, who earned $155,052.
Among Buttigieg’s clients, the one that could turn out to be the most controversial is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Buttigieg worked for the private health insurance provider in 2007 while at McKinsey. The assignment involved consulting work on trimming overhead expenditures. Two years later, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reduced its workforce by 10%.
During the 2020 election cycle, Buttigieg has emerged as the favorite candidate at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. He has so far received $26,283 from the private health insurance provider, beating all other challengers from within and outside the Democratic Party.
Let the attacks begin
Buttigieg’s policy stance regarding healthcare is likely to come into play after the disclosure. On the campaign trail, Buttigieg has criticized the Medicare for All proposal that would eliminate private health insurance. The proposal has been championed by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. You can be sure there will be insinuations or outright attacks that Mayor Pete’s position on healthcare was informed by ties to the private health insurance provider.
Aside from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the South Bend mayor is also the favorite presidential candidate of insiders at his old employer based on campaign donations.
In the current election cycle, Buttigieg has received $60,106 from employees and other insiders at McKinsey. This is nearly five times what Biden has banked. It’s also over nine times what Warren and Sanders collected from insiders at the consulting behemoth.
