Mike Parkinson spent 24 years in Granite City Illinois as a police officer. Upon deciding to leave the force 6 years before full pension, he decided he wanted to take on a new challenge... he decided to run for Mayor. He won. We talk about the daily struggle of advocating for his midwest, middle-class, manufacturing, blue-collar town... that has been on the ropes. Balancing the culture of the town, baked-in ideologies, and a shifting demographic with much different wants and needs than the previous generations, Mike realizes that managing the next phase of his hometown's life is a challenge, to say the least. In a time where political identities and loyalties are shifting like tectonic plates... this conversation touches on the heart and soul of those issues and expectations in modern middle America!
