While anxiously waiting for the presidential election results, this Kentucky town also waited for their own traditional election!

6-month-old French bulldog,Wilbur, was recently named mayor of Rabbit Hash, a general store in Boone County, Kentucky. Now while this town only has “fewer than 5oo people” pet politics are very important to them!

This specific town has actually never had a human mayor, but every election people cast their votes to elect a canine one. “It’s mostly just fun and a distraction from the tension of human politics, but each voter pays $1 per vote and proceeds go to the Rabbit Hash Historical Society. This year, they raised nearly $23,000.”

This tradition came about in the late 1990’s. “There was a man named Don Claire who thought it would be a great idea to elect some type of animal — not necessarily a canine — as mayor of town, as a fundraising event for the historical society,” Wilbur’s owner, Amy Noland, explained.

Wilbur’s campaign for mayor was all because of “the negative media that’s out there surrounding America, and the election, and Covid-19, so I guess I wanted Wilbur to be something positive in the news,” Amy expressed.  And to show his positivity, Wilbur used his platform to advocate for mental health and breast cancer awareness, in honor of his owner’s mother who is a cancer survivor.

This year, the community managed to find their very own mayor pup but also had good successes! The election managed to claim their highest number of votes from all around the world more than 13,000 ballots and raised $22,985 for their fundraiser. Thanks to the community and of course the pups!