Steve Patterson is running unopposed for mayor, but he has't stopped trying to engage with voters.
Steve Patterson isn’t the mayor of Athens, but his Twitter handle has referred to him as “Mayor Patterson” for about six months.
“That was (my campaign team),” the at-large councilman and democratic candidate for mayor said with a laugh. “That was not me. I didn’t do that. It was funny, I looked at that and I went 'eh,' but it was already done.”
The campaign team's confidence, apparently, was not misplaced.
Patterson has been running unopposed in the race for almost three months. In June, the Republican contender, Andrew Looker, an Ohio University senior studying communication, dropped out of the election.
The last day to file as a write-in candidate was Aug. 24, so Patterson’s status as Mayor-elect is inevitable.
“If anything, there is kind of an anticlimactic element to the process,” he said. “I was really looking forward to running against an opponent, whether it be Andrew or anybody else. That’s really where you really get to convey to the public your views on things.”
Patterson has not collected any campaign dollars since Looker dropped out of the race, and he also will not take part in the League of Women Voters public forum in October.
“There’s no really aggressive canvassing or campaigning in the city because there’s no contender, so it really changed that dynamic,” he said.
But that hasn’t stopped Patterson from trying to engage with Athens voters.
He said he still plans to continue to go door-to-door talking to Athens residents and students to encourage them to register to vote.
“I’m still a legislator,” Patterson said. “So I’m sitting there keeping myself engaged with the various ordinances as they’re going forward. I’m staying engaged with citizens in terms of them having concerns, having questions, having ideas.”
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In addition to that, he meets with current Mayor Paul Wiehl on an almost weekly basis to familiarize himself with the daily tasks involved in the job.
Currently, Wiehl makes $78,130 per year. The starting salary for the new elect will be $79,692.60.
Patterson also has spoken with U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-OH, regarding the housing shortage and business growth in Southeastern Ohio, and has met with public officials in Amesville and Nelsonville.
“I’ve always been a multitasker anyway,” Patterson said. “I would have been doing the same thing had Andrew stayed in the election. ... I still would have been in a learning mode.”
Despite running unopposed, Patterson still maintains a team of three student campaign workers, who help him to manage his social media accounts, plan events and write press releases.
All three of those workers started out on the campaign during OU’s Spring Semester working toward class credit.
“The duties really haven’t changed that much,” Stu Adams, a senior studying political science, said.
Adams spent the summer in Athens to continue working on the campaign.
“Everyone within the campaign realizes there’s no one challenging him, but that doesn’t mean Steve is taking the campaign any less seriously,” he said.
Athens County Democratic Chair John Haseley said, unopposed or not, Patterson will make a strong mayor.
“Steve Patterson has a long history of service to Athens,” he said. “People understand where he stands on the issues and that he cares about the future of the city. I don’t think that matters (whether he is running unopposed).”
One thing that won’t change once he assumes the role is his social media presence — Twitter and all.
“I’m new to it, I’m not going to lie,” Patterson said. “Facebook, I’ve been doing for a long time. And I give credit to my team for helping me out with my Twitter. I don’t tweet daily, but I do sit there and tweet things out with a level of consistency.”
And he won’t even have to change his username.
@wtperkins
wp198712@ohio.edu
