From 9News 18-year-old runs for city council!

DACONO - If he wins the election for one of two open city council seats in Dacono, he won’t be celebrating at the bar.

Jory Coates, 18, spins pizza dough at a shop in nearby Frederick. The Dacono resident recently threw his hat in the ring along with two other, older, more experienced candidates.

“Campaigning terrifies me in all honesty. Because I am so young, I feel like they think I’m just a joke,” Coates said. “So I really want to get back out and prove myself.”

Running against him is current Councilmember Peggy Randolph and another woman named Deborah Nasta who has no problem running against the young man.

“More power to him!” Nasta said. “Maybe he’ll be president when he’s 40.”

9NEWS could not reach Randolph for comment.

Coates doesn’t really have a platform or any specific issues that he’d like to tackle.

“There is nothing that is a rallying cry for me. There is nothing specific,” he said.

However, his more experienced opponents do.

Nasta sees water rights as a problem and feels promotion of the city of 4,300 is lacking. Since there are two open seats there is a chance she could be working next to him come November.

“I believe if you haven’t had those experiences it will be hard to relate. It doesn’t mean an 18-year-old’s input is not valuable. They have their own view of what they need. They are looking at the future. They will replace us,” Nasta said.

The pizza delivery guy knows he’s not the typical candidate and knows he lacks experience. He’s just looking to bring a new, youthful view to city leadership and to gain some experience, win or lose.

“You have to earn your experience. You have to earn it somehow. If I stayed home all the time what would I learn,” Coates said.

He’s scraped together about $100 that he’s earned making and delivering pizzas to put towards campaigning. He’s planning on posting signs and going door to door in the next couple of weeks leading up to the election. He’s quickly learning what being a politician is all about.

“It takes a lot of hard work to actually get people to like you. Some people are mean and other people are amazing,” he said.

Some of his critics are his closest friends. Jokingly, they remind him how crazy they think this sounds.

“My friends think I am an idiot. Like, ‘why are you doing this? We should be going to the hookah bar or something. C’mon dude,'” he remarked.

Beyond trying to become an 18-year-old councilmember, Coates plans on heading back to school to train to be an EMT.

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