Michael Sessions

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Michael Sessions (born September 22, 1987) is the mayor of Hillsdale, Michigan, a city of about 8,200 people. He was elected November 8, 2005, and was sworn in on November 21. At the age of 18, he was among the youngest U.S. mayors in the nation's history.

Sessions' $700 war chest from his summer job was enough to fund a successful door-to-door write-in campaign. A write-in campaign was the only option because Sessions was too young to be on the ballot in the spring of 2005. The final results showed that Sessions got 670 votes, compared with 668 for incumbent mayor Doug Ingles, age 51. The recount did not award Ingles any new votes, but 62 votes for Sessions were disqualified. Sessions was awarded one vote that had been in question by the elections office, which read simply "the 18 year old running for mayor"[1]. Ingles initially requested a recount, but withdrew the request at a special City Council meeting.

On November 21, 2005, Sessions was sworn in as mayor for the city of Hillsdale. On the agenda for that night was an amendment to the current sign ordinance, an ordinance to set up a college zoning district, and the results of the 2005 city audit. Many media outlets were in attendance including: TV Azteca (Mexico), Nippon TV (Japan), Russian TV, The Detroit Free Press, and many local media outlets[2]. Sessions has also appeared on Judge Hatchett, Montel Williams, NBC Today Show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the Late Show with David Letterman.

The mayor, who receives a $250 monthly stipend, "plans to devote after-school hours to the job [while attending nearby Hillsdale High School during the day] and use his bedroom as his office". Sessions graduated from Hillsdale High School in May 2006. He is now a freshman at Hillsdale College.

Sessions appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman earlier in 2005 to read the Top Ten list titled "Good Things About Being an 18-year-old Mayor." Saturday Night Live parodied this event, with castmember Andy Samberg playing a caricatured version of Sessions as the a mayor whose new laws which would include "anyone who gives the mayor a 'swirlie' will be given the death penalty!"

Sessions has since performed two marriages, one in which he married a Hillsdale County Commissioner Alan Ringenberg to the owner of the Coffee Cup in the city of Hillsdale Pai Eshelman. Along, with performing another marriage in which he married two high school classmates of his, Curtis Miller and Erica Tran.

Other 18-year-olds elected to mayoral positions that year were Christopher Seeley of Linesville, Pennsylvania (also born in September 1987) and Sam Juhl of Roland, Iowa (born in November 1987, making him the youngest currently-serving mayor of a U.S. city).