The Freshman Mayor: 19-Year-Old John Hammons Won Mayoral Race

By Alex in Politics on May 14, 2008 at 8:37 pm

Meet John Hammons, a 19-year-old college freshman at the University of Oklahoma. He was just elected mayor of Muskogee, a city of 38,000 in northeastern part of the state!

Hammons, who will be sworn in next week, said he plans to continue his college education but expects to transfer to a school closer to Muskogee.

"Being elected does not change my desire to continue my education," he said. "We will schedule our time in an appropriate fashion so that I can be mayor and stay in school."

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bean
May 14th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
This should end well.
Jake D.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
That’s going to look good on an application.
Jerse
May 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Just goes to show you how people do not care enough about politics…
Parker
May 14th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Yeah running a city should still leave room for Poli Sci 101.
70 percent of the vote. This does nothing to change my mind about not giving a crap about Oklahoma.
anathema
May 15th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Heck, can’t be worse than some of the mayors I’ve ever seen. If nothing else, it’ll be an interesting term.
miki
May 15th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee…
Archbob
May 15th, 2008 at 2:05 am
So, how does he plan to go to college and be mayor at the same time?
ted
May 15th, 2008 at 4:17 am
He should at least study part-time. This just shows how little thought some politicians put into their jobs.
MoonCake
May 15th, 2008 at 4:35 am
that’s awesome. 100-kudos to that guy and i hope he does really well! i’d be curious to follow his term and see what improvements (or disasters) he may bring to the Muskogee area. and that’s a big commitment for anyone because going to school and working in a could-be career is hard to stay with. why go to school if you already have the job? that’s a decision i had to make, but i’m glad i stayed with it. i hope he does too; he won’t regret it when he gets that diploma.
Nostra
May 15th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Absolutely ridiculous. A leader ought to have wisdom, mostly gained with age… 19 years old and running a city? Well I guess the corrupt politics of Chicago mayors goes to show that anyone can run a city…
Ashley
May 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Wisdom may come with age, but fresh idealism (and generally a decrease in corruption) comes with youth.
Greg
May 15th, 2008 at 8:25 am
What is with all the old people here dissing on this kid? I think it is great what he is doing. Besides, with a town this size, it would be very possible to be mayor and a full-time student. I live in a town over 80,000 and our mayor has a full time job, so what is the difference? This town is less than 4000!
bean
May 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Greg -

You’re off by a factor of ten. The town has nearly 40000 people. And the issue isn’t really whether he can hold down two occupations at once, as most mayors have full-time jobs. The problem is that he isn’t even old enough to drink, rent a hotel room, or rent a car. He can’t possibly have enough experience to deal with all the things that can go wrong in the average town.
Thomas
May 15th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Give the boy a chance. Maybe he’ll do good things. When I was 19, you couldn’t convince me there was something I was too young for.
Miss Cellania
May 15th, 2008 at 11:27 am
They don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee. And they don’t take their trips on LSD.
Jake D.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
First new law in Muskogee: No one is allowed to beat the mayor in Guitar Hero.
CheeseDuck
May 15th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
What about goats and dogs being mayors? Those aren’t amazing?
oldie
May 15th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
“he isn’t even old enough to drink, rent a hotel room, or rent a car.”

well, that’ll keep him out of a lot of the trouble mayors seem to get into.
Jessie
May 15th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
maybe he’ll be president one day.
Greg
May 15th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Hey Bean, sorry I had a typo of forgetting a zero…anyway, Alexander the Great was king of Macedonia at age 20, young people can do great things. It’s the old bastards on here putting him down that make we young people so apathetic towards politics. Why don’t we let him take office and do some things first before we judge him?
Micah
May 16th, 2008 at 12:56 am
I agree greatly with you, Greg. He hasn’t yet made any mistakes, it’s all just assumptions and speculation at this point.

I look forward with genuine excitement to see the results of such a young mayor. As a former citizen of Muskogee, I hope it works out well, ’cause it kinda needs some improvement.
Justina
Dec 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I think that he is a histroy maker!..and I think this young man is very blessed!…I understand that the older generation feels us younger people need more “age” to feel as though we have wisdom…but I will tell you one thing, wisdom has no age!..just as stupidity has no age either… you see older people everyday acting immature, like children…..I hope he does a great job at what he does and remains in office at that!…..I plan to run for mayor here in chicago when I turn 23 or 24 and I am 21 now!!!……..no offence, but just because you are older, doesn’t nessarily mean you have the best answers and the most wisdom…experience does count, but please people, let the young man shine!…he might just help you all out in a tremendous way!

And perhaps he has good ideas!..I mean to get majority votes over 40,000 people?…that’s pretty impressive!

Do your thing John!…we will be sure to meet one day!..good luck and keep your eyes on the prize sir!

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