Man Announces Candidacy by Smoking Blunt

Oklahoma just defeated marijuana legalization, but that doesn’t mean weed culture is dying. In fact, politicians and candidates are fully embracing their usage of it. A councilwoman in New York City, Carolina Rivera, became one of the rare elected officials to proclaim that she made a cannabis purchase (and display it), after attending the first legal marijuana dispensary opening of her city.

But Deryk Trujillo, who is running for mayor of Pueblo, Colorado, took it one step further by smoking a blunt as he announced his candidacy. First reported in the aptly named Pueblo Chieftain, Trujillo is a long shot to win the mayoral race. He’s the eighth candidate to jump into the race to challenge incumbent Nick Gradisar. The 100,000 person city was one of the first cities in state to open up a dispensary, so Trujillo’s message may get some momentum.

The 25 year old tells the Chieftain he’s completely new to politics, primarily working as a graphic designer. He plays Biggie Small’s “Big Poppa” as his campaign song in his launch video.

Trujillo runs as a contrarian, previously stating that Covid wasn’t real, and saying people his age didn’t care about politics, inspiring him to jump in to give them a voice and get them invested in the process.