Around 24 hours after President Biden made his stunning exit from the presidential race, Pete Buttigieg gathered about 100 of his past donors on a Zoom call.
The call, according to the invitation and to three participants who described it on the condition of anonymity because it was private, was meant to rally his influential benefactors to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris.
But Mr. Buttigieg, the transportation secretary and a 2020 presidential candidate, made an admission during the Q. and A. that struck at least one person on the call as unusually candid, a message he would bring to television in the ensuing days: Yes, of course he was interested in being Ms. Harris’s running mate if it were on the table.
After he spoke, some people on the call said they would love to see him join the ticket and encouraged listeners to put in a good word for him with members of Ms. Harris’s orbit, one participant recalled.
That set the wheels in motion for members of this close-knit network of wealthy Democrats who are again trying to propel Mr. Buttigieg to higher office. Some of them immediately began scrolling through their contact lists, reaching out on Mr. Buttigieg’s behalf to prominent Democrats connected to Ms. Harris in a loose, disjointed effort.
This account is based on conversations with eight fund-raisers for Mr. Buttigieg who either were on the Zoom call or are involved in the subsequent outreach.
