Teen Mayor Takes Over
Christopher Portman's inaugural festivities were modest: dinner at home with his parents, then out on the town, to watch his girlfriend lead cheers at the local high school basketball game.
The 19-year-old Republican was sworn in Wednesday as the first teen-age mayor of this western Pennsylvania borough with 2,391 residents.
"I'm thrilled and ready to take on this job," said Portman, who will earn a salary of $1,875 a year.
Mercer's mayor doesn't have much power, serving mostly as a tiebreaker for borough council votes and as overseer for the police.
Portman said he hopes to start a private group to raise community revitalization money and fine-tune zoning to "maintain the Victorian setting of the community."
"I look at this position as being more the goodwill ambassador of this town," said Portman, who is majoring in broadcast journalism.
Portman defeated 55-year-old Councilman Kenneth Vernon and another young candidate, John Kish, 19, in the Republican primary. He also won the Democratic nomination with a write-in vote.
"I'm so thrilled that Chris ran, and he's a wonderful person - a good young man from a wonderful family," said 78-year-old John "Jerry" Johnson, the outgoing mayor. "I held the Bible for him...was glad to."
Portman recalls that when he first told his high school classmates that he was running for mayor, they thought he was kidding.
"I feel it's important for young people to get involved and give back to the community," said Portman, a Republican who lives with his parents and twin 17-year-old brothers.
Portman ran on a platform of revitalizing the borough, encouraging students to volunteer and starting a foundation to raise funds for community projects.
"People thought I was doing it for the money until they heard the salary," said Portman.
When he's not acting as mayor, Portman will be a freshman beginning this month at nearby Westminster College, where he plans to study broadcast communications and political science.
The young mayor hopes his political career does not end in Mercer.
"I think the most important thing to me is setting goals," Portman said. "My lifetime goal is to run for president."
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