Crazy stuff like this can happen: A 17-year-old and an 18-year-old were elected as mayors, an incumbent who refused to serve was nearly re-elected anyway, a man in jail was elected to school board, and one mayor has Rosa Parks’ funeral to thank for his victory.
“MONTROSE, Pa. – … a mayor who said he would refuse to serve if re-elected lost by four votes.”
“HILLSDALE, Mich. – An 18-year-old has been elected mayor, ousting the 51-year-old incumbent, after mounting a write-in campaign that he financed with his summer job.”
“LINESVILLE, Pa. – This borough’s newest mayor wasn’t even old enough to vote for himself in the primary.”
– Odds and Ends From Local Elections – AP
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The winner of a school board election didn’t campaign, attend forums or even go to any school board meetings before the vote — because he was in jail.
Randy Logan Hale won 831 votes in Tuesday’s election, securing one of three open seats on the Romoland School District Board in a community about 70 miles north of San Diego.
– Jailed Man Wins School Board Election – AP
DETROIT – …Bob Berg, a campaign consultant to [incumbent Mayor Kwame] Kilpatrick, said [Rosa Parks’] funeral changed the dynamics of the campaign. [The challenger Freman] Hendrix, who had been running television ads that criticized Kilpatrick’s management record, pulled them off the air while the city mourned.
The campaign, Berg said, took a break, and Kilpatrick suddenly had a platform to be the mayor. “It gave people a chance to see him in a different light, see a much more mature, in-depth person,” he said.
– Rosa Parks Funeral Helped Detroit Mayor – AP
Ruby, in Detroit it also didn’t hurt that the mayor’s mother, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District (Detroit) and is serveing her 5th term!