His political programme is quite simple: sleeping, going for walks and visiting his constituents.
Every day, Huxley strolls down White Salmon’s small high street. He pops into cafés, shops, pubs, the bookshop and even the town hall. Several establishments have set up baskets, bowls of water or places to sleep especially for him. At the Tarwater Tavern, one of his favourite spots, a cushion even bears a sign indicating that the seat is reserved for the cat.
The real mayor of White Salmon herself acknowledges that Huxley is now part of the town’s identity. In fact, he sometimes comes to rest right on her desk at the town hall. When he walks through the town centre, residents greet him like a celebrity. Some people simply ask in the shops: ‘Is the mayor here?’
The story has become serious enough for the council itself to join in the fun. Huxley even has an official presence on the town’s social media accounts. Postcards and T-shirts bearing his image are sold locally, and a colouring book has even been dedicated to him.
Local legend sometimes claims that Huxley was actually a candidate for mayor. The reality is slightly different – and even more endearing: in 2019, his owners made ‘Huxley for Mayor’ badges to raise money for an animal charity. When the real mayor searched the municipal archives for any trace of a genuine feline candidacy, she found none.
Huxley isn’t a stray cat, by the way. His owners live in the town centre and adopted him when he was two months old. They soon realised it would be difficult to keep him as an indoor cat. An attempt to walk him on a lead ended in failure and, whilst still a kitten, Huxley even escaped by jumping from a second-floor window. Since then, he has spent his days moving between his home and the local shops.
As he’s grown older, there’s now just one rule that’s absolutely essential: don’t feed him. Huxley is on a special diet for medical reasons and therefore wears a tag around his neck that reads: ‘I’m not lost. Please don’t feed me. ’ A recommendation that has become rather amusing when applied to the cat that an entire town calls its mayor.
But behind the anecdote lies something more touching. White Salmon has undergone a profound transformation in recent years with the arrival of tourism, new affluent residents and rising housing costs. In a town where change can sometimes cause tension, Huxley has become an unlikely common ground between long-standing and new residents.
No one knows exactly who first started calling him ‘the mayor’. And, ultimately, it doesn’t really matter anymore.
In White Salmon, when you ask for Huxley, someone almost always replies that he’s just passed by.
The mayor simply has a very busy schedule.
And he’s probably off for a nap.
