Duke the dog wins election, becomes mayor of Minnesota village

He won the election fair and square.

Duke the dog is now the mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota.

"Pretty much everyone knows him," voter Tammy Odegarrd told Buzzfeed.

"He is an outside dog, loved by everyone in the town, and he is a regular at Cormorant Pub."

The title is only an honorary one in the village of just 12 residents. In fact, Duke is Cormorant's first-ever mayor.

Residents could vote for anyone they wanted in the 5-week campaign-less election. Each ballot cost $1. It wasn't long before the 7-year-old Great Pyrenees became the clear frontrunner.

"He won by a landslide," Cormorant resident Tricia Maloney told WDAY 6 News. "He doesn't know how to handle this publicity."

"Poor Richard Sherbrook that owns the Cormorant Store, he didn't even have half as many votes as Duke did," she added.

Sherbrook was a gracious loser:

"There's no question that he'll do a good job representing the community," Sherbrook told ABC News of the new furry mayor.

"I'm going to back the dog 100 percent. He's a sportsman and he likes to hunt. He'll really protect the town."

The dog's most notable contribution to the town: slowing down traffic.

"What he does is when the cars are coming through town, they're hitting town at 50 miles per hour, and he slows them down," said resident David Rick.

Duke, who gave no statement to the media when he was declared the winner, has already had a bit of a mayoral makeover, including five hours of grooming. He will be officially sworn in on Saturday during the 4th annual Cormorant Daze.

What's a dog-mayor's salary these days? A year's supply of kibble, donated by Tuffy's Pet Food in Perham.