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 they 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.