>
Firefighter, 25, is elected mayor of the city of Kentucky by turning a coin after knotting with his opponent
- Mason Taylor, 25, held his breath as Pendleton County Sheriff Edwin Quinn flipped a shiny silver quarter to decide his fate
- He and his opponent and current Mayor Greg McElfresh each had 55 votes in Butler, Kentucky
- State law required parallel races to be decided by a coin toss and Taylor won
- The coin circled the floor and twirled about three times and then it just flopped on the tails and I had a big exhale of relief,” Taylor said.
A mayor of Kentucky was elected by tossing a coin after he tied his opponent.
Mason Taylor, 25, held his breath as Pendleton County Sheriff Edwin Quinn flipped a shiny silver penny to determine his fate.
He and his opponent and current Mayor Greg McElfresh were tied by 55 votes each in Butler, Kentucky, and state law required equal races to be decided by a coin toss.
After Quinn threw their fate in the air, it circled three times before landing on tails and sealing the Gen-Z candidate’s fate.
“The coin circled the floor about three times and spun and then it just flopped on the tails and I had a big exhale of relief,” the new mayor-elect told Taylor. WCPO.
Holding on to the quarter since his win, Taylor said he has plans for the small town of 600.
Mason Taylor, 25, (left) held his breath as Pendleton County Sheriff Edwin Quinn (right) flipped a shiny silver penny to determine his fate
He and his opponent and current Mayor Greg McElfresh were tied by 55 votes each in Butler, Kentucky, and state law required tie-races to be decided by a coin toss.
“The coin circled the floor about three times and spun and then it just flopped on the tails and I had a big exhale of relief,” said the new mayor-elect Taylor.
“In the future, I want to expand geographically so we can increase revenue in the city, but I also want to make the City of Butler a place where my kids can grow up and my kids’ kids can grow up,” says Taylor. , who has spent his entire life in the city, told the outlet.
He also said he wanted to bring new businesses to the city and restore infrastructure.
‘I want to reassure people that, in the future, my visions for the city will remain [the same as] the campaign promises that I will continue,” he told the outlet.
Taylor is also a city council member and works as a firefighter and paramedic.
This isn’t the first time Butler has used a coin toss to decide the fate of a politician. In 2018, a city council race followed in the same way.
Kentucky, among 28 other states, uses similar methods to decide between ties, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Current Mayor Greg McElfresh lost his seat after tossing the coin