Cars drive on Colfax Avenue by a “South Bend for Pete 2020” mural painted on the side of the Madison Oyster Bar Friday in downtown South Bend. Staff photo by Michael Caterina
Jason Critchlow recalled the day when a woman knocked on his door, saying she was from Canada and wouldn’t be in town long. She asked him to point out the house where Pete Buttigieg grew up.
There was also the time Critchlow and his wife, Olivia, weren’t home but watched three women, one wearing a “BOOT EDGE EDGE” T-shirt, ring their video camera doorbell.
Critchlow lives on the same Northshore Triangle block as Buttigieg’s mother, Anne Montgomery. It’s also a block away from where Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, live.
Critchlow, a former St. Joseph County Democratic Party chair and South Bend mayoral candidate, considers the visits from strangers a “minor annoyance,” though Olivia finds it all a bit unsettling.
“They’ve always seemed very nice,” he said. “They’re just kind of gushing and saying that they just want to talk to him.”
Buttigieg’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination has introduced not only his neighborhood, but all of South Bend, to millions of people as something more than just the home of Notre Dame football.
What might it all mean for South Bend, now that so many people are hearing about the city for the first time? Some believe it could have an impact on the local economy, benefiting existing businesses but also attracting developers and investors. South Bend has received rare national attention from dozens of media outlets, after all.
But not all the attention has been positive. Buttigieg critics have also stepped into the spotlight, painting the picture of a mayor who did not do enough for impoverished neighborhoods and struggled to address tension between police and African-American residents. Contrasting with glowing images of the city, protests and photos of abandoned buildings also have made their way into national media reports.
For his part, Buttigieg, whose last day in office is Wednesday, thinks the positive attention outweighs the rest and will pay off for South Bend.
“If nothing else, it means we’re on the radar in new and positive ways,” he recently said in a telephone interview from Iowa. “Half the battle is making sure people know we’re there, and we’ve certainly made some gains in that sense.”
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