Young Aberdeen mayor-elect eager for change

Aberdeen’s 23-year-old mayor-elect got his first taste of the spotlight on election night.

“My phone just kept ringing. I had to eventually just stop answering,” Erik Larson said.

Since then? “It’s been a little crazy. I’m not used to doing interviews right and left,” he said. Not used to it, perhaps, but Larson does know how to steer interviews to his talking points like any polished politician.

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“I personally think a lot of exciting things are going to happen in Aberdeen and we’ll get attention for the great things we’re doing as a city rather than my age,” he said.

Larson says Aberdeen can be a destination for working people who want a quiet, affordable place to live.

“As technologies advance and a lot of people are telecommuting, people are looking for a slower-paced lifestyle, getting away from traffic,” he said.

“Aberdeen becomes more and more of a gem in that aspect because we do have a low cost-of-living, we’re so close to all these outdoor activities, the coast, the rain forest.”

He compares it to Bend, Oregon, but also freely admits Aberdeen does have a ways to go before it gets there.

Larson grew up in Aberdeen and, as a teenager, worked as a dishwasher and bus boy in his family’s two restaurants.

He graduated from Washington State University in 2012 and started his job as an engineer with Vaughan Chopper Pumps back in the area the Monday after graduation.

He acknowledges he’ll be a young mayor but has no doubt he’s ready.

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“I think the fact that I don’t have a political background is more of a factor of my age and not having actually having had time to do so,” he said. “There was an opportunity to really make a difference and I jumped on it. ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ and here we are.”

Larson says the timing just seemed to be right.

“Had we been in a situation where we had a mayor that was doing very well and were making all those changes, I probably would have gone for a lower position.”

But does that mean he’ll listen to all the unsolicited advice he’s been getting since winning the election? Maybe, maybe not.

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Either way, he’ll be entering his post in January with an abundance of optimism, which Aberdeen voters clearly find attractive.

He beat his opponent, former city council member Jack Micheau, with 71 percent of the vote.