Colwell: Mayor Mueller wins Democratic nod — and something more — in primary

In the primary election Tuesday, South Bend Mayor James Mueller won a lot more than just the Democratic nomination for a second term.

Mueller and candidates he supported won in what really was a battle of rival slates, one led by the mayor, the other led by Common Council member Henry Davis Jr., who lost 2 to 1 to Mueller in the mayoral nomination race.

All eight candidates on the Mueller team won.

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The most important victory for the mayor besides his own was by Bianca Tirado, who defeated City Clerk Dawn Jones in the three-candidate contest for the clerk nomination. In all of his extensive television spots, Mueller appeared with Tirado, with a message to voters that he “can’t do it alone” in running the city.

Taking a party leadership role in another race was a risk. It became a “must-win” situation.

If Jones had won there would have been two serious problems. There would have been disunity on the Democratic fall ticket and Jones, because of all the controversy in the clerk’s office, would have been the top target for Republicans.

One of the eight candidates on the Davis team won. That was the win of one of the three at-large council nominations by Oliver Davis, a former council member. His victory, along with wins by two at-large incumbents, Karen White and Rachel Tomas Morgan, both of whom endorsed the mayor, pushed the third at-large incumbent, Lori Hamann, out of the running. She had not endorsed Mueller.

Voter turnout was low. Rain and cold didn’t help. But Mueller knew that the big factor was disinterest, with many voters assuming there really wasn’t much of a contest for mayor. That’s one reason for his extensive campaign effort to get his supporters to the polls.

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Davis waged an all-out effort, proving to be a better candidate than in his prior mayoral effort, when he got 22 percent of the vote in losing to Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the 2015 Democratic mayoral primary.

This time, it was Mueller, 68 percent; Davis, 32 percent.

Davis had to top 30 percent to show he had any significant impact. He just reached that. But he fell short of the 40 percent that would have signaled Mueller was vulnerable for a possible fall upset by Republican challenger Desmont Upchurch, who was unopposed for the Republican mayoral nomination.

So, another win for Mueller Tuesday was solidifying a strong front-runner status for the general election in November.

In his campaigning, Mueller declined to use the negative style of TV ads so familiar in many races around the nation. He never used a negative attack against Davis or Jones in prevailing over both and retaining his own positive rating.

A poll commissioned by his campaign showed at the start that he had an 83 percent approval rating with Democratic voters.

The mayor may not stir voter enthusiasm the way Buttigieg did, but he showed he has support that can even achieve the difficult task of transferring popularity to other candidates.

There is little doubt about South Bend and Mishawaka continuing to go their separate ways politically in mayoral selection. No Republican has been elected mayor of South Bend since 1967. No Democrat has been elected mayor of Mishawaka since 1979.

Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood was unopposed Tuesday for the Republican nomination for a fourth full term. He has no Democratic challenger. And it wouldn’t much matter if he did.

Mueller, just as in the primary, will be facing a challenger given little chance this fall. He will again try to convince voters to come out to support not only him but his Democratic team. Republicans, after wins in the county election last year, will seek to make inroads in South Bend, in the city clerk race and some council contests and to keep Mueller from dashing their hopes in those races.

Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by email at jcolwell@comcast.net.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Mayor James Mueller won Democratic nod, wins for his team