Newly-elected teenage mayor ‘acted like he was running for president’

MICHAEL SESSIONS is too young to drink champagne legally, but the 18-year-old student has reason to celebrate - he unofficially won a race for mayor this week by defeating the baby boomer incumbent.

Mr Sessions, who turned 18 on September 22, ran as a write-in candidate because he was too young to get on the ballot in the spring. He used $700 from a summer job to fund his door-to-door campaign in Hillsdale, Michigan, a town of about 9,000.

Unofficial results show he got 732 votes, compared with 668 for Mayor Doug Ingles, 51. Once his victory is certified and he’s sworn in - the ceremony is set for November 21 - he may be the youngest mayor in the US.

At least two other teenagers have been elected as mayors in recent years, but they were older and represented smaller towns. Jeffrey Dunkel was one month shy of 19 when he was sworn in as mayor of tiny Mount Carbon in January 2002, and Chris Portman was 19 at his inauguration in Mercer the same month.

Mr Dunkel won re-election this week.

“I’ve always been interested in politics,” said Mr Sessions, who registered to vote the day after his birthday and became a write-in candidate a day later.

“It’s certainly hard to be a write-in candidate,” he says, adding that he drove around town on Tuesday afternoon, nervous that people didn’t know his name.

He says many voters said they wanted “new energy,” but he was caught off-guard by the support he received.

“He was a real go-getter during his campaign,” says Steven Brower, a government and economics teacher. “He acted like he was running for president.”

He says his former student Mr Sessions, by carefully researching issues before taking a position, will serve responsibly in a largely ceremonial, four-year post.

The job comes with no office, chair, or filing cabinet, says incumbent Mr Ingles. The mayor, who gets a $250 (€214) monthly stipend, casts one of nine votes on the City Council.

Mr Sessions says his parents were skeptical at first but are now “very supportive”. He says he has no agenda but wants to meet everyone. He plans to devote after-school hours to the job and use his bedroom as his office.