Teenager wins Muskogee mayor race

NEWS 9

MUSKOGEE, OKLA. -- A 19-year-old freshman at the University of Oklahoma is Muskogee's new mayor.

John Tyler Hammons defeated former Mayor Herschel McBride with 57 percent of the vote Tuesday. When Hammon takes office, he will be the youngest mayor in the country.

"I carried every single precinct, unconfirmed reports, that's never happened, and unconfirmed reports that I won by the largest margin ever," Hammons said.

Hammons believes he was able to win the election by utilizing a Web-based campaigning that helped negate his opponents' spending advantage, by way of e-mails.

"Y'know hey, only so and such more weeks left, only 2 weeks left, make sure you tell all your friends. Y'know it was just a way to send out massive amounts of information very quickly and for free," Hammons said.

The new Mayor said he will transfer to a college closer to Muskogee, about 151 miles away from where he resides now.  The move may have to wait, however, because Jay Leno wants him to come on the Tonight Show, he said.