Pete Buttigieg's aide and friend elected to replace him as South Bend mayor
South Bend, Indiana — A top aide and high school friend of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will replace him as mayor of his Indiana hometown.
James Mueller won Tuesday's South Bend mayoral election with nearly two-thirds of the vote. Mueller is the city's Department of Community Investment director and Buttigieg endorsed him for the Democratic nomination.
Mueller said in his victory speech that "Trumpism has no place in South Bend." He declared the city would take the election momentum into 2020 and pointed to Buttigieg while saying "with our next president standing right over there."
The crowd responded with a chant of "Pete! Pete! Pete!"
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.