Buttigieg campaign has no digital department

Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign is experiencing a surge in support in several polls and among Democratic Party donors even though it has no digital department.

A campaign official who asked not to be identified told The Hill that the operation lacks a dedicated department because it weaves digital efforts into everyday operations.

“We still have all the traditional elements of digital in our program, it’s just woven differently than traditional campaigns,” the official said. “With a field this large, our campaign is being innovative and nimble and just wants to be disruptive and different with the way we do things.”{mosads}

The official added that the campaign is trying to “maximize” its digital impact by “making sure that everybody had digital in mind and that digital was a part of everything we do.”

Time magazine was the first to report on the campaign’s digital operations.

The campaign has made entreaties to voters over digital platforms, sharing its logos and designs on Instagram to be bounced around on social media and rethinking its investments in paid television advertising in light of the popularity of online streaming services among younger voters, Time noted.

TIME’s new cover: Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s unlikely, untested, unprecedented presidential campaign https://t.co/kMRow7D4sM pic.twitter.com/xmrZaAW7y4

— TIME (@TIME) May 2, 2019

Buttigieg has been buoyed in his presidential ambitions by a string of viral moments, including a performance at a CNN town hall that was well received and a clip of him speaking Norwegian to a reporter. His campaign has adopted a strategy of media saturation, having the 37-year-old South Bend, Ind., mayor speak to a litany of reporters and appearing on both national platforms and more niche mediums, as a recent Politico profile of communications adviser Lis Smith revealed. 

Smith told Time the campaign’s goal is “break down the wall that exists between presidential candidates and the media, and therefore the public.” She also said the campaign has “experience teams,” which Time reports have a wide range of focus. 

The Buttigieg campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill regarding its digital operations. 

The news comes as Buttigieg, a relative political unknown months ago, finds himself in the top tier of several statewide and national polls and out-fundraising candidates like Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

— This report was updated at 10:15 a.m.