A dog has been elected the mayor of small town in Kentucky by a landslide

There has been a lot of discussion about elections in the United States recently as we waited to with bated breath to see what the outcome would be.

In Rabbit Hash, Boone County, Kentucky, small town, home to less than 500 people, a six-month-old French bulldog named Wilbur Beast prevailed in a landslide to become the town's new mayor.

Wilbur was named as the winner, beating off fierce opposition from a beagle called Jack Rabbit, a golden retriever named Poppy, a donkey named Higgins, a cat and a rooster.

'Where are all the human candidates?' You might ask. Well, these elections aren't official and there has been an animal mayoral election in the town since 1998. Anyone wishing to vote has to donate $1, which goes towards the Rabbit Hash Historical Society and managed to raise more than $23,000 this year.

This resulted in Wilbur receiving 13,143 votes and beat incumbent mayor Mayor Brynn, a pit bull named Brynneth Pawltro, who was elected in 2016, as per the Associated Press. Unlike the presidential election Brynneth is not said to be contesting this suspicious result despite the vote total greatly exceeding the number of people who live in Rabbit Hash.

The tradition occurred when Boone County, which governs Rabbit Hash, celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1998 and asked all the mayors within the county to honour that birthday. However, Rabbit Hash is so small that it didn't have a mayor so they elected an animal instead.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Bobbi Kayser, the president of the historical society said:

We think this is the most important election of 2020. They asked all the mayors to honor that birthday, but Rabbit Hash didn’t have a mayor. We decided that the best way to get a mayor was to hold our own election.

Originally, whichever animal was elected stayed in office until they died but that changed in 2016 after they needed to raise funds following a local fire. Now the elections happen every four years to coincide with the race for the White House. This year's bid to win over voters was said to be more contested than ever with one candidate reportedly hosting their own music event. Kayser adds:

One candidate even had a live music event. Everybody puts up signs, and they are hilarious.

When it was all said and done, Wilbur was announced as the winner by Lady Stone, a border collie and the town's ambassador in a Facebook post.

Personally, we think can get on board with this as it's far less stressful, farcical and spiteful than what goes on in Washington DC. Who knows? Wilbur 2024? We'll just have to wait and see.

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