The 2011 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election was held on November 8, 2011.
After serving for fourteen years, incumbent mayor Steve Luecke announced that he would not seek reelection. Luecke's decision not to run for reelection made the 2011 election the first open election for mayor of South Bend in 24 years.
The election was won by Pete Buttigieg, who, at 29 years of age, became the youngest mayor, at the time, of a United States city with a population greater than 100,000.
The election coincided with races for the Common Council and for South Bend City Clerk.
Background The election coincided with races for the Municipal Council and for South Bend City Clerk.
After serving for fourteen years, incumbent mayor Steve Luecke announced that he would not seek reelection. Luecke's decision not to run for reelection made the 2011 election the first open election for mayor of South Bend in 24 years. His decision not to seek reelection was considered a surprise, and initiated a large rush of candidates declaring that they would seek to succeed him as mayor.
South Bend was regarded to be a Democratic-leaning city. A Republican had not been elected mayor of the city in the four decades, since Lloyd Allen won his second term in 1967. In December 2020, David Varner, the only Republican on the South Bend Common Council was quoted by the South Bend Tribune as opining that there was a strong unlikeliness of a Republican victory in the city's upcoming mayoral election. Varner pointed to Joe Donnelly's strong victory across South Bend in the 2010 congressional election, despite a Republican wave election that year. Jack Cowell of the South Bend Tribune predicted that the Democratic primary would be tantamount to election.
Nominations Primaries were held for the Democratic Party and Republican parties on May 3.
During the primaries, St. Joseph County, where South Bend is located, saw voter turnout of 16% in its various primary elections. This was an increase of 6% from the primaries four years prior.
Absentee voting ballots in the South Bend primaries numbered at 2,539.
Democratic primary Democratic candidates included failed 2010 Indiana State treasurer candidate Pete Buttigieg, state representative Ryan Dvorak, high school teacher and St. Joseph Councilman Michael Hamann, reverend and former Clinton administration staffer Barrett Berry, and attorney Felipe Merino. Individuals who had previously been running, but were not included on the ballot because they either dropped-out or were disqualified from running, included Mark Dollinger, a business services representative at Work One (Indiana's workforce development agency) and the former manager of the city's Weed and Seed program.
Incumbent mayor Stephen Luecke abstained from endorsing any candidate ahead of the primary.
Dvorak was initially seen as having some potential advantages, such as media coverage of the state legislature and the fact that his father, Michael Dvorak, was the county prosecutor. Dvorak had never before lost an election campaign. Due to his strong name recognition, Dvorak was initially regarded as the frontrunner. However, his position as a State Senator, requiring him to travel frequently to the state capital of Indianapolis, limited the ability for him to directly campaign in South Bend compared to his opponents. Furthermore, during the campaign, Dvorak was involved in the Indiana legislative walkouts, which caused him to spend a significant part of his candidacy out-of-town in Illinois. Dvorak had strong labor support, which he helped shore up by participating in the Indiana legislative walkouts.
Buttigieg had entered the race with very little name recognition. As a candidate, Buttigieg outlined a platform for his prospective mayoralty. This included an economic plan which promised to assist responsible existing employers grow, cultivate "new homegrown businesses of tomorrow", have the city compete both nationally and globally for investments, create "well-coordinated and user-friendly" economic development, confront poverty, and make investments in human capital and quality of life. He outlined an action plan for these economic priorities in April. Buttigieg also declared, “This election is about jobs, and the top priority of the next mayor has to be on putting people to work in good jobs. I have the most experience when it comes to business and economics. I’m the only candidate who has been involved in multibillion dollar decisions in the private sector, with some of the world’s top firms.” Buttigieg's campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl, had previously been the campaign manager on Joe Donnelly's 2010 congressional campaign. Buttigieg was ultimately supported by former mayors Roger Parent and Joe E. Kernan (the latter also being a former governor). Additionally, in its first-ever mayoral endorsement, the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County endorsed Buttigieg's candidacy. Buttigieg was also endorsed by the South Bend Tribune in its first-ever mayoral primary endorsement and the South Bend's chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Barrett Berry, a local pastor, was well known for hosting a radio program. Berry had returned to South Bend three years prior after an extended career working in federal government which not only included roles in the Clinton administration, but also had included an assignment as a control officer for the United States Department of State in Nairobi after the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Berry served on several local boards, including the St. Joseph County Area Planning Commission, to which he had been appointed by mayor Luecke.
Michael Hamann promoted himself as, "the only candidate with proven executive experience." Hamann had been a St. Joseph county commissioner from 1999 through 2003, and was now a St. Joseph County Councilman representing a district which covered northwest South Bend and northwest St. Joseph County. When he previously served as a county commissioner Hamann had been a member of the Republican Party. He had also been a teacher for 26 years, and was also running a communications and marketing firm. Calling the city's unemployment rate, "unacceptably high," Hamann pledged to attract well-paying employers to the city. Hamann also pledged that, if elected, he would aggressively demolish abandoned neighborhoods in order to generate neighborhood revitalization and in order to combat crime. While St. Joseph County Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan refrained from formally endorsing any candidate, he privately supported Hamann. Hamann also received the endorsement of Citizens for Community Values Indiana.
Felipe Merino, an attorney, stated he was running because, "we need businesses, we need investment, we need somebody to take care of graffiti, somebody to fill our potholes, we need somebody who is going to make sure that the west side and the east side of South Bend are both being taken care of." He dropped out of the race in March, citing unspecified "personal issues". However, by state law, his name would remain on the ballot. After dropping-out, he endorsed Dvorak.
Buttigieg out-fundraised the other candidates. Buttigieg began to lead the pack in fundraising as early as January 2011. By April 8, Buttigieg had raised $230,000 for his campaign. Dvorak had raised $100,000. Hamann had raised $56,000.
Had they been successful in their efforts to be elected mayor, either Berry (who is African American) or Merino (who is hispanic) would have been the first ethnic minority to be elected to a full-time executive office in St. Joseph County. No ethnic minority would be elected to a full-time executive office in St. Joseph County until the 2015 South Bend City Clerk election was won by Kareemah Fowler.
In February the race was described as being "wide open", with polls showing that 60% of voters had not even yet learned that Luecke was retiring.
In mid-March, a poll conducted by the Feldman Group found Buttigieg and Dvorak to be in a virtual tie, both garnering roughly 30%. Roughly a quarter of voters were undecided. The race had widely come to be seen as being primarily a contest between Buttigieg and Dvorak.
On April 9 a debate was held at Indiana University South Bend, sponsored by Indiana University South Bend's American Democracy Project and Political Science Club as well as the League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area.
By mid-April, the election was still regarded to be a close-race between Buttigieg and Dvorak, with Hamann being seen as a third-place candidate trying to push his way back towards contention.
Late in the race, Dvorak swiftly turned negative in campaigning against Buttigieg, a move which backfired. Additionally, Hamann garnered sympathy after the tragic death of his wife, which occurred in mid-April. These two factors compounded, and Dvorak fell to third place.
Polling In mid-March, a poll conducted by the Feldman Group found Buttigieg and Dvorak to be in a virtual tie, both garnering roughly 30%. Roughly a quarter of voters were undecided.
By mid-April, the election was regarded to be a close-race between Buttigieg and Dvorak, with Hamann being seen as a third-place candidate trying to push his way back towards contention. At this time, internal polls from the Buttigieg and Dvorak campaigns showed that Barrett Berry was in fourth place among candidates. At this time, both the Dvorak and Buttigieg campaigns, and their allies, shared that they had internal polling showed their candidate in the lead. For instance, by April two internal polls showed Buttigieg with leads of 2 and 14 percent. State representative Craig Fry reported having seen internal polling which showed Dvorak with a lead.
Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror BarrettBerry PeteButtigieg RyanDvorak MichaelHamann Feldman Group Mid-March 400 ± 5% 4% 32% 30% 12%
Results Buttigieg ultimately won what was considered a surprisingly strong victory in the primary. Due to the contest featuring four serious contenders for the nomination, experts had predicted that the victor would only carry roughly a third of the vote.
Buttigieg benefited from large crossover voting in support of him, with one analysis finding that he received the votes of up to 3,000 Republicans.
Voter turnout in the primary was much greater than had been predicted. This was largely due to Republican crossover voting. Some predictions for turnout were as low as 8,000. The median prediction had roughly been 11,000.
Republican primary