Hello, Mr. Mayor
Meet Mitchell Whitley, the 25 year old who is on a mission to meet every North Carolina mayor. He has driven thousands of miles driving across the state and has currently met 334 out of 551.
What’s the point? Mitchell was a political science major in college and has always had an interest in being a community leader. “I thought, ‘what’s a way I could learn about the leadership landscape of our state and see everything North Carolina has to offer?'” he says. His ultimate goal is to publish all of his interviews in a book.
Mitchell says it’s not about politics; most towns are non-partisan and he’s more interested in learning about the community as a whole. While he doesn’t yet know what his future looks like, Mitchell never wants to be labeled a politician and is instead passionate about being a statesman for North Carolina.
His mayor interviews have lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to 12 hours. “A lot of times you learn stories that even history books don’t have that only mayors who grew up in a town would know or remember,” says Mitchell, adding that some of the smaller communities have never had someone reach out to come and talk with them, let alone visit. Mitchell has a website where you can track his visits and his slogan is, “Always remember, every NC city, big or small, should truly matter to us all.”
About 10 mayors in, Mitchell’s dad began to tag along for the road trips which helps add a layer of deeper connection, according to Mitchell. Both Mitchell and his dad live in central NC making commuting to the mountains or coast a less intimidating feat.
Since starting what he dubs “Mitchell’s Mayors” he has made memories worthy of future grandpa lore such as, meeting a mayor who helped get all nuclear missiles out of the former Soviet Union, visited the town where the flags that went on the moon were made, explored a bigfoot museum owned by a mayor that also hunts for the beast, driven with a mayor in a Christmas parade and much more. He has also banked a ton of random knowledge which we’d bet makes him everyone’s worst trivia enemy.
And yes, Mitchell has been to Moore County. He’s met with nearly all of the mayors in the county with the exception of Vass. In Southern Pines he met with both the current and former mayor, who gifted him a longleaf pine sapling, which is now growing in his backyard. The father-son duo even found out mayor of Robbins went to high school with Mitchell’s dad. “North Carolina is a lot smaller than you may think it is. We’ve made all kinds of personal connections,” says Mitchell.
Mitchell has had a few people recognize him while out and about and now you can be one of them. See his website or follow his journey on instagram. Want to throw them some gas money? This project is entirely self-funded.
