However, Sharon Mendenhall, age 22, was elected as sheriff of Rush County, Kansas in 1964. Her record may deserve an asterisk, due to special circumstances. Her husband, Jack Mendenhall, who eventually served as sheriff of Rush County for 42 years,was the incumbent sheriff and by the Kansas law in effect at the time, could not succeed himself. (The law was repealed soon after. ) Therefore, he had his wife run and the voters went along with the idea. Jack actually did most of the work of sheriff, but his wife operated the radio communication for the department.
James R. Metts makes the claim on his web page to be the youngest sheriff ever elected in the nation in 1972, at the age of 25, He has served as sheriff of Lexington County, South Carolina since December 15, 1972. This has earned him the longest tenure for a Republican currently holding elected office in South Carolina.
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John F. Kennedy was the youngest president ever elected (43 years 236 days old).However, Theodore Roosevelt became vice president at a younger age (42 years 322 days old) and became president after McKinley's assassination and was technically a younger president than JFK.
At this writing, 5/3/2010, no woman has ever been elected President or Vice President of the US.
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There has been no female elected to the Office of Presidency yet. Hilary Clinton was the closest a female has ever been to holding this office.
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