Claus, 68, has won a city council seat in North Pole, Alaska, and is on a mission to use his Santa-like appearance (and name) to bring about political progress

A portly man with a long, white beard named Santa Claus won a city council seat in North Pole, Alaska, on Tuesday. Reached by phone Wednesday morning, his voice sounded warm and a little gravelly. Perfectly in character.

Claus, 68, had already done half a dozen interviews by 10am, he said, talking with reporters as far away as Israel. North Pole is a community of a little over 2,000 south of Fairbanks in interior Alaska. He won as a write-in candidate with 58 votes.

It seemed everybody got a kick out of his election.

Claus was born Tom O’Connor, but he changed his name 10 years ago, he said. At the time he was living in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He decided to grow out his beard and it came in white and bushy. That led him to play Santa over the holidays for some charities.

“I had a ball,” he said.

One of Claus’s campaign signs.

Claus had worked in law enforcement, as a chaplain and as a television news director (he’s also a dissertation away from a doctorate in education at NYU, he said). Around the time he grew out his beard, he decided to get involved with children advocacy. One day, as he walked to the post office in Tahoe, he began to pray about the direction his life should take, he said.

“One of the parts of the prayer was, ‘Shall I change my name?’” he said. “Right after I finished my prayer, this white, sort of nondescript car comes by. I heard what sounded like a guy in his 20s shout out, ‘Santa, I love you!’”

And so he changed his name to Santa Claus. In 2013 he moved to North Pole, where the light poles look like candy canes and Santa-related activities generate a fair amount of tourism dollars (town slogan: “Where the spirit of Christmas lives year round”). He soon became president of the city’s chamber of commerce.

Being Santa Claus gives a person a political edge, he said. On more than one occasion he has called a legislator, lobbying for support on a child welfare issue. When he’s been brushed off, he has called local media and introduced himself. Then the local media, seeing a story, called the legislator. And then, magically, someone from the politician’s office called to discuss his concerns. It seems no politician wants to come out publicly against Santa Claus, he said.

“It’s very powerful,” he said.

It happens, also, that Claus has cancer. Two types, though he wouldn’t say which two. He was also vague about his prognosis. He’s managing the effects of disease with doctor-recommended medical marijuana and has shunned traditional treatments. Over the summer, he advocated before the city council against a measure that would have banned marijuana dispensaries in North Pole and was able to sway the body his way.

“People have taken me to task for medical marijuana because they think it’s a bad image. I think it’s a practical consideration,” he said.



On the political spectrum, Claus says he’s “fiscally conservative but socially liberal”. He’s interested in holding the line on spending, supporting public safety and cleaning up pollution caused by a nearby refinery, he said.

Other Santa facts: Claus maintains a Facebook page and a website. His voicemail greeting goes like this: “Hi, this is Santa, sorry I can’t take your call.” He finishes emails with one of these: :-)}. He has a stepson, he said, but isn’t married now. “There is currently no Mrs Claus,” he said.

On the average day in North Pole, Claus wears a red shirt, jeans, boots and a big wooly hat. Though he isn’t in the suit, people still recognise him as Santa. He isn’t particularly interested in hearing what children want for Christmas, he said. Instead, he blesses them and asks they do something for others.

“I think the greatest gift is love, not necessarily presents,” he said.

