A tinge of sorrow circulated in the putrid air of the Ann Arbor fish market Wednesday morning. In spite of a valiant effort, a 20 pound carp lost his write-in campaign to become a Michigan city councilman.
In Nov. 2012, the sizable fish was forcibly removed from from an Ann Arbor pond for being too “destructive.” Always a fighter, this is when the the carp found a passion for local politics.
The @TwentyPoundCarp Twitter handle has been tweeting platforms for almost a year…
And a social media savvy grassroots campaign, which even led to signs being placed around the city, escalated in the last few months.
“I consider a 20-pound carp to be a substantial opponent and I wish him the best,” favorite and eventual winner Jack Eaton told MLive. Eaton won 89% of the votes. The carp and another write-in candidate split 209 votes.
This isn’t the first time an animal has run for elected office.
In 1938, a Republican mule by the name of Boston Curtis won the role of a Washington precinct committee chair.
“Milton’s Mayor Kenneth Simmons, a Democrat, chortled hugely,” TIME Magazine reported at the time of Curtis’ win. “He, who had sponsored Candidate Curtis and filed his papers, had proved his point that voters ‘have no idea whom they support.’”
Stubbs the cat has been the mayor of the 900-person town of Stubbs, Alaska for more than 15 years.
Here’s Stubbs with a celebratory drink:
After writing this post on the state of local politics, think we deserve a glass too.