Ryan Sorenson won his race to become Mayor of Sheboygan at 27 years old this week – the youngest in the city's history.
His story isn't too far removed from that of Justin Nickels, Mayor of Manitowoc, who was re-elected to a fourth term this week. Nickels was 22 when he was elected to be Manitowoc's 27th mayor. At the time, he was the nation's youngest full-time mayor.
"You have to prove that you're a serious candidate and not just a kid who wants to play Sim City, and take over," Nickels said about his first mayoral campaign. The joke resonated with Sorenson's experience this past campaign cycle.
"When you're campaigning you – especially when you're the younger guy – you got to work twice as hard to be taken, you know, just half as serious," Sorenson said, "So you got to put in double the initiative double the effort to really lay a solid groundwork to prove yourself and earn your stripes."
Both Nickels and Sorenson don't want this or the current faces of American politics to discourage younger people from getting involved at an earlier age than what seems conventional.
"One thing I'm sure Justin has heard too is, 'well why don't you just wait your turn? Why don't you just sit on the sidelines?'" Sorenson said. "Growing up, my parents always instilled in me never to complain and sit on the sidelines but get in the game and make a difference. My advice to the young folks out there that have a passion for their hometown and want to be that voice, be a change agent, is to get in the game. Get your hands dirty, and get involved."
The two mayors hope they can provide living examples of bringing a younger perspective to political engagement.
"I would say just take a look at us," Nickels said. "It's possible."
Although Nickels was a familiar face in Manitowoc politics before running for mayor, many older colleagues were critical of his initial campaign.
"It was challenging for some of the longer-term folks at City Hall," Nickels said. "I remember I sat down with the city planner one day and he reminded me he worked for the city longer than I had been alive, and it's tough for a lot of people to grasp that concept that such a young person can be leading an entire community."
Nickels went out of his way to reach senior citizens in nursing homes and talk to them about running Manitowoc with their grandchildren in mind.
"There were people who wanted to see me fail. That's politics, right?" Nickels said. "At 22, that's difficult to try and combat that because my friends are still in college getting drunk every weekend here I am putting together a $50 million budget."
But to these mayors and many that voted for them, youth isn't a bad thing.
"I think young means a lot of different things for me, and especially on this campaign, talking with a lot of different folks, you know whether out at the door, whether at the grocery store, whether you're just out about a lot of people ask, 'well, aren't you young?'" Sorenson said. "And I think people, everyone has a different word of what that means, you know what that means for me. I don't view myself as being young, but I view myself as being youthful and energetic."
"I mean just think of young kids," Nickels said. "When they have an opportunity to do something, they enter it with excitement and energy and a new outlook."
