The American political system has long produced colorfully aberrant and utterly quixotic recidivist candidates for public office, whether they’re tenacious delusionals with lunatic fringe appeal like Lyndon LaRouche, satirists engaged in performative protests like Pat Paulsen, or memetic stars of the internet era like Vermin Supreme or Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan. Hell, a total goddamn freakshow candidate defied all conventional wisdom to occupy the highest office in the USA, but few such candidates ever succeed electorally, and since pretty much every region has at least one, they can (mostly) be safely regarded with indulgent affection and granted local-color oddball status, however bonkers their platforms may be.
Toledo, OH has Opal Covey, not just an Evangelical Christian but a self-professed prophetess who has attempted five Mayoral runs on the basis of her belief that God told her she’d be elected Mayor, which of course could still happen eventually. In 2015, she received less than 1% of the vote but nonetheless insisted that she won, and promised that if she wasn’t sworn in, “…destruction is gonna come. And I’m standing back and I’m gonna let it happen.”
Covey is also noteworthy for utterly bonkers interviews in which she speaks in tongues, and for her singing, which sounds like Tiny Tim losing his grip.
Because I’ve been to Toledo, I got a grin out of the line “I have sent my servant to the city of Toledo to bless the city of Toledo but great opposition has come unto her.” Covey’s main platform plank is that Toledo should build an amusement park, which will inevitably lead the city to untold fortunes, which she knows because—surprise surprise—God told her so. (That would presumably be the same God that promised her five times she’d be Mayor, so maybe she should reconsider his predictive value. God is no Nostradamus, apparently) This is a baffling position, as Sandusky, OH, just an hour away, is the home of one of the world’s most popular amusement parks, and though that city is a Mecca for roller coaster enthusiasts, it’s a Mecca for nothing else.
It’d be worth a half hour of your time to check out this documentary short Opal For Mayor, a quite sincere look at the woman from 2009. The video lets her tell her own story, from hearing her call to ministry at the age of 13 to her more recent and ongoing political engagement.
Thanks to Johnny Walker for alerting us to this woman’s existence.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Astounding gospel guitar form settles into a new home - Toledo, OH
Kooky Christian ‘prophet’ Cindy Jacobs says God supernaturally multiplied her spaghetti