18-year-old College Student Elected Mayor Of Arkansas City

An 18-year-old col­lege stu­dent has been elect­ed to serve as may­or of a small east Arkansas city, becom­ing one of the youngest peo­ple to serve as a city’s top leader in the U.S.

Jaylen Smith, who is Black, was elect­ed may­or of Earle in Tuesday’s runoff elec­tion, win­ning 235 votes to Nemi Matthews’ 183, accord­ing to com­plete but unof­fi­cial results.

He’s among the youngest may­ors elect­ed in the United States and would be the youngest mem­ber of the African American Mayors Association. Phyllis Dickerson, chief exec­u­tive offi­cer of the asso­ci­a­tion, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the association’s cur­rent youngest mem­ber is Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who is 35.

Smith is among a hand­ful of peo­ple elect­ed may­or before turn­ing 20, includ­ing Michael Sessions, who was elect­ed may­or of Hillsdale, Michigan, in 2005 when he was 18; and John Tyler Hammons, who was elect­ed may­or of Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 2008 when he was 19.(AP)