Pete Buttigieg's legacy as mayor of South Bend? The reviews are mixed

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - On Jan. 1, Pete Buttigieg's second term ended, and the "Mayor Pete" era in South Bend was over. In the Democratic presidential candidate's telling, he presided over a Rust Belt comeback story in Indiana's fourth-largest city, a metaphor for what is possible elsewhere in America.

Before Buttigieg took office in 2012, downtown had been moribund for decades. Aging, abandoned homes dragged down spirits in poorer neighborhoods. Unemployment was high, wages low, evictions common. White residents were fleeing by the thousands. A Newsweek article declared South Bend, population 101,860, one of America's "dying cities."

Today, unemployment in the greater South Bend area is less than 4%, down from nearly 10%, development has accelerated in the city's downtown, and the population has stopped shrinking. Local business boosters recently raised street banners that said, "Thanks Mayor Pete."

"South Bend's trajectory has been transformed," Buttigieg said