Muskogee elects mayor, 19

May 17, 2008 at 1:25AM
John Tyler Hammons, the 19-year-old newly elected mayor of Muskogee, Okla., gestures as he speaks during an interview in his new office in Muskogee, Okla., Thursday May 15, 2008. The University of Oklahoma freshman is moving out of a dorm and back in with his parents as he prepares to be sworn in next week as mayor of this 38,000-person eastern Oklahoma city made famous in Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee."
John Tyler Hammons, the 19-year-old newly elected mayor of Muskogee, Okla., gestures as he speaks during an interview in his new office in Muskogee, Okla., Thursday May 15, 2008. The University of Oklahoma freshman is moving out of a dorm and back in with his parents as he prepares to be sworn in next week as mayor of this 38,000-person eastern Oklahoma city made famous in Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee." (Associated Press - Ap/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Nineteen-year-old John Tyler Hammons is moving out of his University of Oklahoma dorm and back in with his parents as he gets ready to be sworn in next week as mayor of Muskogee, a 38,000-person city in eastern Oklahoma.

Hammons wants to hit the ground running as mayor, but there has been no shortage of distractions since he won Tuesday's runoff election with nearly 70 percent of the vote over Hershel McBride, 70, a former three-term mayor.

Hammons has received a proposal for a book deal, invitations to be on national talk shows and three offers for a reality TV program.

The senior class president at Muskogee High School in 2007, he served as president of both the Young Republicans and the Young Democrats clubs.

"I threw my name in both rings ... and lo and behold, both groups elected me," he said.

Residents are willing to give the mayor a chance.

At the Club Lunch cafe, owner Gary Armstrong said locals have grown weary of politics as usual. "He doesn't have the baggage. He doesn't owe anybody anything," he said. "It's sort of a fresh start for Muskogee."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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