A 19-year-old man has a city calling him mayor. In Tuesday’s election, community members voted in a close race, 53% to 47% to elect Romaine Robert Quinn as the city's youngest mayor in history.

Quinn says he’s excited to take on his new role and help move the community forward.

Politics has always had a spot in Romaine Quinn's mind.

"It was something I've always enjoyed hearing about the issues, what's going on, and being concerned about other people's situations," Quinn said.

Rice Lake's new mayor, who's also a freshman at UW-Barron County, made his way around the neighborhood picking up campaign signs after learning of his victory Tuesday night.

"I'm still trying to sort out all the missed phone calls and messages," he said.

He's spent months competing against Incumbent Mayor Dan Fitzgerald.

"I've talked to a lot of my friends and they still don't know why I’m doing it, but I've had a lot of support, so why not?

Some say the race was about age versus experience, but Quinn says he doesn't think any of that matters.

"Your age doesn't necessarily give you the qualities that are necessary to lead and that's what this position's about and I think it's moving forward with the quality of actually listening to people," Quinn said.

And a number of community members agree.

"It's the person's point of view that really matters," Jacob said.
"Sometimes people look at he's not experienced, but yet, age shouldn't matter if he's an educated individual he should do well," Tom said.

Quinn says he has a number of issues he wants to take car of from working on balancing the city budget to figuring out controversial issues like its sidewalk policy."

"Every issue deals with money and money right now, especially here, is tight. We still don't have a balanced budget here and I've been lucky enough to sit through the budget process," Quinn said.

Quinn says he's honored so many people trust him to keep this city going strong.

“I’m excited, very excited for him. I'm excited for our city and like we say, change is good,” Paula said.

Quinn says he'll be sworn in about two weeks and that's when the real work will begin. He's been serving on city council for almost a year.