2003 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election


The 2003 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election was held on November 4, 2003. Incumbent mayor Steve Luecke was reelected to a second full-term.

Nominations

Democratic primary

Incumbent mayor Steve Luecke was unchallenged in the Democratic primary. Originally attempting to challenge Leucke for the nomination was 1995 Republican mayoral nominee Michael C. "Mike" Waite.

Republican primary

After a long search to try and find a candidate, hours before the deadline for a candidate to register, St. Joseph County Republican chairman Matt Lentsch announced Thomas Schmidt as a candidate/presumptive nominee. Thomas R. Schmidt was unchallenged in the Republican primary.

General election

Luecke was heavily favored to win the election.
2003 wound up being a good year for Democrats in Indiana's mayoral elections, with the party winning control of the mayoralties of all of the state's top seven most populous cities for the first time since 1959. The Democratic Party also won control of the mayoralties in twenty of the state's thirty cities with populations above 25,000. Additionally, in 2003, Democrats won more than 56% of partisan mayoral races in Indiana.