THE SMALL TOWN of Cormorant, Minnesota has a new mayor. Duke. Just, Duke.
Duke only has one name, and is also a dog. The 7-year-old Great Pyrenees won the role of honorary mayor by a landslide after an election that took place over five weeks. The town is home to just 12 people, with each paying one dollar to vote for anyone they wanted. Who better than a loyal dog?
Widely known by locals (all 12 of them), Duke guards the community and has even been known to enforce the speed limit. The fluffy white dog didn’t even need to campaign, with his popularity easily outweighing his human competition.
Cormorant resident Tricia Maloney told WDAY6 that the dog won by a landslide.
He doesn’t know how to handle this publicity. He’s used to coming to the pub and getting some burgers and some fries or something. Poor Richard Sherbrook that owns the Cormorant Store, he didn’t even have half as many votes as Duke did.
Now he’s an even bigger deal, and was rewarded with five hours of grooming ahead of being sworn in on Saturday during the town’s fourth annual Cormorant Daze. Local Tuffy’s Pet Food will donate a year supply of food as payment for his service.
Surprisingly, the new mayor isn’t a big talker, as the WDAY reporter discovered.
“Mr. Mayor, could I get a statement from you? Nothing?”
It may be an unorthodox choice but Duke isn’t the first strange mayor the state of Minnesota has seen. 5-year-old Bobby Tufts recently lost his re-election bid after two years as mayor of Dorset. It will be taken over by a much more experienced and capable 16-year-old. One of Tufts’ best acts in office was to declare ice cream on top of the food pyramid.
