“Mayor Pete” will soon cease to be the mayor of South Bend.

Tuesday marked his last full day in office.

For pretty much all of 2019, Pete Buttigieg wore two hats—serving as mayor of South Bend and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

On Tuesday, he seemed somewhat relieved to be relieved of his mayoral duties.

“I'm going to miss being mayor for sure, but also recognize that running for president is something that commands so much of your time and attention that setting aside that juggling I think will be good for the city and good for the campaign. I'm reluctant to hand over the keys just because I love the job so much, but also of course know the city will be in good hands and I'm ready to make the transition,” Buttigieg said in a one-on-one interview with 16 News Now reporter Mark Peterson.

Back in April when Buttigieg officially threw his hat into the ring of Democratic presidential candidates, he joked that his biggest concern was peaking too early. “I think a lot of folks are surprised. I mean there was such an unlikely quality to this campaign. We started out as an exploratory committee with four people in a little office in the Tower Building around the corner from the County-City Building. We had no money, not much of a mailing list even, and have now grown to the campaign that we are today with hundreds of people across the country, and I don't think there's a single campaign for president that certainly we would want to trade places with. But there's five weeks to go between now and the Iowa caucuses and a lot of work to do. We know there are a lot of ups and downs coming, and trying not to get too hung up on the polls or questions about peaking, where we are because we know just how much can happen in those 35 days,” Buttigieg said.

When asked if there was any room for victory short of the nomination, Buttigieg replied: “Certainly from an Iowa perspective there are a lot of ways to have a good showing, but we're in this to win it, as far as the nomination and want to make sure that we take every step in order to make sure we get there, secure the presidency, and move the country forward.”

Buttigieg took office in January of 2012 at the tender age of 29. “I came in as a policy guy, a data guy. I wasn't really into ceremony and events, that part of the job, but over time I realized that sometimes the symbolism is one of the most important things.”

For Buttigieg, the city’s 150th birthday celebration in 2015 marked a turning point for his administration. “The 150th anniversary was just such a pivotal moment. I feel like it helped us seal that sense through the first term that we had arrived at a comeback, and it set the tone for the years since where we've been able to work with a different sense of purpose and I think stand up taller as a city. I hope to be remembered as a mayor who guided this city to a new stage in its history and brought this city to the realization that we could do anything, that our best days were not in the past, that we ought to believe in ourselves, in our own potential.”

Buttigieg went on to say, “There are a lot of South Bends out there. It’s one of the things I've learned in the campaign process, that there are more communities like ours than not, and it’s time for a voice from those kinds of communities in the highest office in the land. I believe my military experience and life experience, acknowledging that I'm the youngest person in the field, but also believing that this is the right time for a new generation to step in. I think it's the right moment for that transition to happen.”

Buttigieg says his house is not for sale and that South Bend is still home, although he’s not sure how much time he’ll be able to spend there as the primary season approaches.