1971 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election

The 1971 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election was held on November 2, 1971. The election was won by Democrat Jerry Miller.[1]

South Bend mayoral election, 1971
November 2, 1971
 
Nominee Jerry Miller Janet Allen
Party Democratic Republican
Mayor before election

Lloyd M. Allen
Republican

 Elected Mayor

Jerry Miller
Democratic

Elections in Indiana

Incumbent Republican mayor Lloyd M. Allen opted against running for a third term.[1]

This election ushered in an era of continuous Democratic control of the mayor's office in South Bend, which continues to this day.[1][2]

Nominations

Democratic primary

Democrats nominated Jerry Miller,[1][3] a St. Joseph County Commissioner who had served as President of the County Commissioners.[3][4][5]

Republican primary

Republicans nominated Common Council member Janet Allen[1] (of no familial relation to then-incumbent mayor Lloyd M. Allen). Janet Allen was a conservative Republican who had regularly clashed with the more moderate Republican Lloyd M. Allen during his mayoralty, criticizing him on spending and taxes.[1] Janet Allen had been the first woman ever elected to the South Bend Common Council when she was elected in 1963.[6]

The Republican primary had been a divisive one, with a battle being waged between the cities moderate and conservative Republican Party wings.[1]

General election

The Republican Party remained divided after its primary.[1]

Janet Allen would have been the first woman to be elected mayor of South Bend had she won the election. As of 2019, no woman has been elected mayor of South Bend.[7]

Jerry Miller had previously been on a study commission to examine a restructuring of the St. Joseph County and South Bend governments.[3] Carrying some of the ideas he had adopted support for during his role on this study commission, Miller campaigned as a proponent of implementing a cabinet form of governance to South Bend's mayor's office[3] Once elected, Miller successfully would re-organize the mayorship. In what was the largest restructuring of a local government in Indiana since Indianapolis' Unigov, the Indiana State Legislature passed legislation authorizing South Bend to restructure its government as such, and South Bend passed legislation to do so, reorganizing many governmental entities into six departments with heads appointed by the mayor.[3]

References
  1. Colwell, Jack (July 12, 2015). "Colwell: Lloyd Allen was South Bend's monument in asphalt". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  2. Parrott, Jeff (November 5, 2019). "James Mueller elected South Bend's next mayor, succeeding friend and ex-boss Pete Buttigieg". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  3. Owen, James; York, Wilbern. Governing Metropolitan Indianapolis: The Politics of Unigov. University of California Press. pp. 189–191.
  4. "Richard Nixon Presidential Library Contested Materials Collection Folder List" (PDF). Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  5. "Richard Nixon Presidential Library Contested Materials Collection Folder List" (PDF). Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  6. Heidorn, Nicolas (March 18, 2018). "America's First Councilwomen (Sacramento was First)". Sacramentality. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  7. "A Look Back: A mayoral mix". South Bend Tribune. June 22, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
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