Just outside Asheville is the small town of Fletcher, which is home to roughly 8,000 residents, and it’s making big waves with its new mayor. 

Preston Blakely is the youngest mayor in the state at just 27 years old, and he’s the grandson of an Asheville civil rights icon.

We talk with him about his early rise in politics, his family history, political shenanigans in his mayoral campaign, and how Fletcher is facing many of the same growing pains other “bedroom communities” are facing all across North Carolina.