It was just a month ago when we learned of a North Texas man who changed his name to “Literally Anybody Else” and started his campaign for presidency.
In that same vein, some residents of Blanco, Texas were not too inspired by their choices for city council, so they started a campaign for a third candidate of their own: a feral chicken.
Signs urging residents to elect “Feral Chicken” to City Council began popping up all across the county, along with the chicken’s campaign slogan of “Stop plucking around with our town!”
A Facebook group titled Feral Chicken for Blanco City Council was created in 2022, as a response to the frustration with Blanco's city leadership.
As of today, the group has almost 800 members, which is impressive considering that Blanco only has a reported population of 2,000 residents, according to Chron.com.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek approach, the “Feral Chicken” movement has inspired more Blanco residents to vote.
After the Facebook page was formed, voter turnout in Blanco nearly doubled, increasing from 190 voters in the 2022 election to 394 in 2023, according to Mike Arnold, who first created the group in September 2022.
Last May, Arnold was elected into office as Blanco’s mayor.
Arnold said, “We saw a lot more voting when the chickens were squawking. People around town knew the candidates, they knew the issues, they were engaged...that's really unprecedented."
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