Forget the red elephants and blue donkeys this election season, in the town of Chester in northwestern Montana, the talk of the town is an orange cheetah; Chester the Cheetah to be precise. The mascot for Cheetos has declared he’s running for mayor of Chester, but first he’ll need to beat current Mayor, Noel Walston.

“Chester Cheetah has decided that he wants to run for mayor against me, and he thinks he can win the election by giving free Cheetos to everybody, but I think there has to be a lot more to it than that,” Walston said. There’s no free lunch. If I give away free stuff, I’m giving away the people’s money… I don’t think you can give away their money on frivolous snacks.”

Walson, who described himself as "more of a Republican" said Chester the Cheetah is running as a third party candidate. Aside from giving away Cheetos, Chester wants to paint crosswalks orange.

The mascot actually did make an appearance in town to film some commercials and they even had a public debate, but Walston still accuses the mascot of being a bit of a carpetbagger.

“He was here when he was filming his campaign, but I have not seen him back yet. He’s here for the highlight and the fame and then he’s going to be gone. The town got co-opted because of its name. When he was here, the people really liked him… he’s got the popular vote I’d say.”

When pressed, Walston said it is unlikely that Chester the Cheetah’s name actually ends up on any ballots, but he admitted he was unsure if Montana law prevented puppets from entering the race.

Mayor Walston also admitted that he prefers crunchy Cheetos

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