COUNCIL, Idaho — Who says a write-in candidate can't win a mayoral race? Not Malvin 'Gabe' Wilson.
There’s so much more to know about the man behind the mustache who recently won the mayoral race for the City of Council as a certified write-in candidate.
“The mustache is the mayor, I’m just the deputy," joked Mayor-Elect Wilson, who was elected on Tuesday. “I've talked a lot about it actually over the years, and it just kinda came down to it this year, a couple of my buddies we're like— 'let’s go time, time for a change.' That's why I actually ended up as a write-in because I hemmed and hawed around long enough that I missed getting all signed up, and so I had to do it as a write-in.”
Wilson, who grew up in Council, says even though he was a write-in candidate, he was pretty confident of the outcome. The website was not updating numbers, so he had to wait late into the night.
“I ended up getting a random text from one of my buddies, his wife was also running for school board, and shot me a text and said, 'Congratulations.' That’s kind of how I found out.”
Wilson is one of 24 volunteer firefighters and works as a logging trucker, but says he’s looking forward to his new duties as Mayor.
For instance, there’s plenty to do to improve the town’s water system.
“We’re trying to get a bunch of money together, get some loans together, to get this infrastructure fixed up.”
And about the mustache? “Just started doing it— I guess, I would say before it was cool before the trend started to catch back on, and here we are."
Wilson will be sworn in as Mayor of Council in January, and hopes to bring the community together, whether it’s through food drives, high school activities, and local events.
“Try to get everyone back involved. Ya know, when I was a kid, everyone was doing everything. When the town had something going on— everybody was there."
