A 24-year-old city council candidate is using super weird ads to get out the vote

Hayden Pedigo wants you to know that he's running for city council. 

The 24-year-old musician announced his bid for a seat on the Amarillo, Texas council in a Facebook post in August. In the bizarre clip, Pedigo tosses a folding chair across a creek, pulls out a measuring tape, and proceeds to measure the roads around him. He scrambles over rocks, gets down on the ground, and throws his folding chair off various places around Amarillo. 

"I believe that a lot of local small business owners out here are straight up getting bonked," he states at the end of the video, before a retro title card flashes his name and "FOR PLACE 2 AMARILLO CITY COUNCIL."

Though the ad gained local popularity on Facebook, it reached an international audience when someone posted it on Reddit on Thursday. 

"He wants a seat on city council so he's bringing his own," Redditor Schmeeble commented, trying to decipher the surreal video. "He will make sure his seat will transcend obstacles (throwing over stuff) and with a measured confidence he is not afraid of getting down to the ground level issues." 

According to Pedigo, Schmeeble isn't far off. He's tired of seeing his friends leave Amarillo for Austin or Portland because they "didn't think Amarillo fit into the larger picture." 

"I wanted to start a discussion on local government amongst people my age who otherwise would never care about anything that happens locally," he explained over Facebook Messenger. 

Like an MTV video from the '80s, Pedigo's campaign ads all have a sort of grungy, DIY vibe. 

He said he wants the ads to "change the meaning behind a campaign video," since many people think of them as tools for negativity. 

"These videos exist outside of that," he explained. "The videos are completely absurd but they don't convey any type of negativity. I think everyone in America is politically exhausted and I want this to be a breath of fresh air." 

Running in hopes of being a "better representation of Amarillo's younger population," Pedigo wants the city to maintain its historical areas. 

"The north side of town has been severely neglected and that [is] something very important to me," he said. 

And what about small business owners? 

"Well, they're getting bonked," he stated, matter of factly. 

When asked if he had a plan to "keep them from getting bonked," Pedigo didn't hold back.

"Well if the city focused more on business outside of a four mile radius on the wealthy side of town," he ranted. "The bonking would be considerably lower." 

Oh, and he wants people under 30 to vote in their local elections. 

