Jonathan Walker/Collegian
Surrounded by the media, 18-year-old Michael Sessions gives a speech at the pre-inaugural rally as the newly-elected Mayor of Hillsdale on Nov. 21.
Hillsdale Mayor Michael Sessions was sworn into office Nov. 21 at City Hall, after defeating incumbent Doug Ingles with a vote count of 670-668 in the mayoral election. A large crowd attended Sessions’ inauguration, including many press crews, some reporting for international audiences. Seventeen video cameras lined the back of the council chamber.
City Councilman Michael Parney said he thought if anyone else besides 18-year-old Sessions had been elected mayor, “there would have been five people here tonight.”
After the city council meeting, Sessions was swamped by reporters.
“It’s been overwhelming,” he said of the media coverage. “I’ve got a headache right now; [I’m] trying to get out of here.”
Throughout the day, Sessions received considerable press coverage, from giving a tour of the town to being stalked by reporters at Hillsdale High School, where he is currently a member of the senior class.
Reporters were “camped out in the lunchroom,” said Brandon Thomas, Sessions’ friend and campaign manager.
“They knew [Sessions] had to go out there because his van was out there, so we snuck him out the front [of the school],” Thomas said.
During the Nov. 21 city council meeting, Sessions read letters from U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) and Toledo Mayor Carlton Finkbeiner (D), who wished the council well. He also noted the attendance of State Sen. Cameron Brown (R-Fawn River Twp.), and said that U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) visited him that day at school.
There was international as well as regional and national interest in Sessions’ inauguration. Crews reporting for two Japanese networks were present.
“It’s a great human interest story,” Fuji TV correspondent Scott Filipski said. “It’s a great story of American democracy.”
“We never have 18-year-old mayors in Japan,” Shinko Koshiba of Nippon TV explained.
Some city officials said they are pleased by the media’s coverage of the mayoral election.
“It’s been described by some as a media firestorm and I [have to] believe that’s an absolutely appropriate definition of what it is,” City Clerk Parke Hayes said. “I think it’s wonderful.”
Parney agreed that press coverage has been good for Hillsdale.
“You can go anywhere in the United States and everyone’s heard of Hillsdale, Michigan now,” Parney said. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity, so we’ll take all we can get.”
City Manager Tim Vagle said the city is working to take advantage of the attention.
“I’ve had three different people give some ideas and some follow-up strategies,” he said.
Media attention has driven some citizens to spruce up the town and make the press feel welcome.
Jim Rowen, board member of the Hillsdale County Chamber of Commerce and a 2004 Hillsdale graduate noted that storefronts, usually dark at night, were illuminated for the inauguration.
“[It] didn’t make any difference what rank you were or position you held,” he said. “If things needed to be done, people were doing it.”
During the city council meeting, resident Laura Smith thanked Sessions for helping clean the town and thanked the mothers and grandmothers of Hillsdale for their help, which included baking cookies for the press.
“Wonderful hospitality,” Filipski said. “People in Hillsdale were great.”