Plenty of small towns have a beloved dog who greets everyone at the general store. But a few American communities have taken it a step further. They've made their favorite dog the mayor.
Here's the short answer, with one important detail. Several tiny towns really have elected dogs as mayor, including Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, Idyllwild, California, and Sunol, California. These are unincorporated communities without a real city government, so the posts are honorary or unofficial. The elections are usually fun fundraisers, but the dogs carry out their duties with great enthusiasm.
Rabbit Hash, Kentucky: A Line of Canine Mayors
Rabbit Hash is a small community in Boone County, Kentucky, with a population of 254 at the 2020 census. It's known for its name, its historic general store, and its string of dog mayors.
The first elected mayor in town history was Goofy Borneman-Calhoun, an adopted dog of unknown parentage, inaugurated in 1998. Next came Junior Cochran, a black Labrador, elected in 2004. Junior ran into trouble when a visitor complained about animals in the general store, and the health department banned the mayor from the building, much to his supporters' dismay.
In 2008, a border collie named Lucy Lou became the town's first female mayor. She was a local celebrity, appearing on CBS Sunday Morning and serving as grand marshal of a pet parade. Later winners include a pit bull named Brynneth Pawltro in 2016 and a French bulldog named Wilbur Beast in 2020, who won with 13,143 votes out of 22,985.
Campaigns With a Cause
The Rabbit Hash races do real good. In 2016, a fire destroyed most of the town's beloved general store, built around 1831. That year's mayoral election raised almost $9,000 to help restore it, and the store reopened in 2017.
The runners-up don't go home empty-handed, either. The town's historical society began naming them official Ambassadors to Rabbit Hash, ready to fill in whenever the mayor is busy.
Mayor Max of Idyllwild
In 2012, an animal rescue group in Idyllwild, California, held a mayoral election as a fundraiser. Fourteen dogs and two cats ran, and a golden retriever named Max won the job. When he died in 2013, another golden retriever, Max II, arrived to finish the term.
Residents loved him so much that when the term was ending, they asked for Mayor Max to continue indefinitely. His duties included greeting locals and visitors, attending grand openings, and riding in the town's two annual parades. After Max II died in 2022, his cousin Max III was sworn in that December.
Bosco, the Original Top Dog
One of the earliest famous dog mayors was Bosco Ramos of Sunol, California, a black Labrador and Rottweiler mix. In 1981, he beat two human candidates in the honorary mayoral race and served until his death in 1994.
Bosco even made international news. In 1990, a Chinese newspaper held up his election as an example of the failings of American democracy, and residents replied that the office was merely a joke. Today a statue of Bosco stands in front of the town post office, and a local bar was named in his honor.
So the next time someone grumbles about politics, remember these four-legged public servants. They never gave a long speech, never broke a promise, and always showed up for the parade.
