South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegSanders: Speed of Medicare for All plan is a 'major difference' with Warren Warren vows to 'attack corruption in Washington' in New Year's Eve address Panel: Why aren't candidates taking more shots at Joe Biden? MORE will soon be replaced by his former chief of staff as mayor of the midwestern town.
Mayor-elect James Mueller will be sworn in Wednesday afternoon, signifying the end of the presidential candidate’s tenure as mayor and freeing him up to campaign.
Now, Buttigieg will hold an advantage over other Democratic candidates serving in the Senate who will be called back to Washington during President TrumpDonald John TrumpGiuliani says he would be willing to testify in impeachment trial Trump expected to announce limited vaping ban this week Linda Ronstadt: Trump is 'like Hitler, and the Mexicans are the new Jews' MORE’s impeachment hearing.
Buttigieg endorsed Mueller last February, and the former chief of staff won the primary in May. The presidential candidate had announced he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2018.
The mayor-elect told ABC57, a local affiliate, his priority will be “getting the right people in the right places.”
“After that, we’re looking to do what we talked about on the campaign trail,” Mueller told the affiliate. “Really it’s all about taking our growth that we’ve started to achieve over the last eight years and take it to the next level and make sure it’s spread widely so everyone can take part in it.”
He said he’s received advice from Buttigieg but noted he is a different person.
Mueller also inherited Buttigieg’s controversy surrounding the South Bend Police Department. In June, the presidential candidate had to leave the campaign trail after an officer-involved shooting of a black man and protests arose.
The mayor-elect mentioned another allegedly racist incident involving an officer who said a quote from a movie during an encounter, saying that the city has to have “a lot of honest dialogue,” he told ABC57.
Buttigieg launched a 21st Century Policing study that is doing an audit on the department and will make recommendations in 2020, according to the affiliate.