No matter who you’re voting for this election it’s pretty easy to see that politics has gone to the dogs as of late. So why not just elect a dog to office? It turns out that a few cities already have! Believe it or not America has already elected several successful paw-liticians from the re-pup-lican pawty who held pub-lick office. Here are three of the goodest mayors this country has ever seen.
The town of Cormorant Village Minnesota held an honorary election for mayor in 2014 and the winner was a pretty great guy. A Great Pyrenees to be exact. Duke the Great Pyrenees was elected to the town with a population of nearly one thousand. Besides being gigantically adorable and fluffy, his responsibilities included hangin “at the local pub and mak[ing] sure everything is runnin’ OK and keep[ing] the riff-raff out and just oversee[ing] the whole works.” according to the locals. Duke was so pupular that in his reelection bid he won every last vote except for one which was for his girlfriend Lassie. Presumably, great guy Duke voted for his girlfriend just to make sure she got on the scoreboard. Duke passed in 2019 but he stayed in all the hearts of Cormorant Village.
If you think that’s wild, just wait until you hear who the town of Idyllwild elected as their mayor in 2012. Votes for Mayor Max were cast alongside one dollar donations for the local animal shelter which ended up raising an impressive $31,000. Despite the fact that Idyllwild is an unincorporated township, and Max’s title is purely ceremonial, his non-partisan approach to paw-litics has brought the community together in a way that our human politicians could take lessons from. It’s hard to be upset with a mayor as cute as Max.
There has even been a four legged furry mayor of one of America’s biggest cities. On November 18th 2014, Frida the Chihuahua-mix rescue was declared Mayor… but only for that day. Nevertheless, Frida served her office with all the grace, poise and charm you’d expect from a ten pound puppy princess. Frida’s owner donated $5,000 as part of a fundraiser to support San Francisco’s Animal Care and Control Department, which enabled her to strut around the city as if she owned it for a day.
Whatever people end up doing this election, it’s good to know that if we need them, the real paw-liticians are ready at the wings to swoop in and take the reins if need be.
