Democratic party candidate James Mueller won the race to become the next mayor of South Bend on Tuesday night. With the majority of voting precincts reporting and Mueller clinching more than 60 percent of the votes, he entered Corby's Irish Pub to cheers, whistles and chants from his supporters.
After shaking hands and thanking them he took to a bandstand to make a victory speech where he says the win was symbolic for 2020.
“I want to give credit to my opponent and my grade school friend Sean [Haas] for making this race more competitive,” he says. “But it is important that we won resoundingly to send a message: Trumpism has no place in South Bend.”
The crowd responded with a chant of "Pete! Pete! Pete!"
Mueller ran on a platform of continuing many of the programs and policies of his predecessor and presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg.
“The progress over the last eight years in our city is undeniable yet we still have a lot more work to do to take our growth to the next level and make sure everyone can share in our progress,” Mueller says.
Buttigieg attended the party to congratulate Mueller on the win.
Buttigieg had called Mueller's Democratic primary win in May a "good validation" of his administration's work in the 100,000-person city since he became mayor in 2012.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
