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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Taking a break from his presidential campaign, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg did what he does every once in a while for the residents of his city in northern Indiana. 

He hosted his “Mayor’s Night Out” event for people from the city to come and directly ask him questions. 

Buttigieg announced last year that he would not be seek another term as mayor opting to take a shot at the White House. It was a larger than normal crowd the South Bend Civic Theater with both local residents and people from outside the state coming to hear him speak.

Questions were screened for political reasons to make sure all questions asked about strictly local topics. At one point Buttigieg was asked how it feels having to step aside as mayor after having served since 2011.

“It’s a hard thing to let go,” Buttigieg said. “I feel like the administration here in South bend is my child. I know I’m going to have to have the discipline to know that my most important moment in South Bend starting next year is as a resident.”

Buttigieg said his successor should be their own person when they take over after the November elections, adding that every mayor “is and ought to be different than the mayor that came before.”

“It’s not my place to say that the next mayor should care about the same issues I did,” he said. “But, I do think it’s clear what challenges the next mayor is likely to face.”

Issues such as moving forward with the expansion of the South Shore Rail Line to Chicago, homelessness, and even climate change.

Buttigieg isn’t too worried about letting someone else take the reins of the city. He said South Bend is a city the believes in itself again and that there is a lot of growth the city has seen that will allow it to keep doing so moving forward.

(PHOTO: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)