Preceded by Ken Hector Succeeded by Rick Lewis | Name Stu Rasmussen Role Politician | |
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Silverton mayor stu rasmussen mayor may promo 3
Stu Rasmussen (born 1948) is an American politician. He became the nation's first openly transgender mayor when he was elected as the mayor of Silverton, Oregon in November 2008.
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He had previously been elected twice in the 1990s as mayor of this Willamette Valley community, before coming out as transgender. He was also three times a member of the city council. He was assigned male at birth, prefers he/him pronouns, has breast implants, and dresses as a woman. He sometimes goes by the name Carla Fong.
Rasmussen unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1994 as an independent, and a seat in the Oregon State Senate in 1996 as a Democrat. He ran for the House again in 1998 as a Democrat, losing with 41% of the vote.
In 2013 a musical about Rasmussen, Stu for Silverton, premiered at Seattle's Intiman Theatre.
Rasmussen, a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal, served as city councilor until January 2009.
Rasmussen has co-owned Silverton's 1936 Palace Theater, which shows first-run movies, since 1974.