Johnny Anders

Who is Johnny Anders?

John Earl Anders, Jr., known as Johnny Anders, is an automobile body shop owner who engages in the unusual hobby of metal artwork and also serves as the mayor of Stamford in northern Jones County in West Texas. Stamford is north of Abilene and straddles the boundary with Haskell County to the north. Anders was also a member of the Stamford City Council from 1997 until his election as mayor in the spring of 2005.

Anders was elected in 2005, when the incumbent, Oscar Armstrong, did not seek another term. On May 12, 2007, Anders was reelected to a second two-year term, having defeated opponent Gwen Baker, 336-127. Texas municipal elections are nonpartisan, and Anders considers himself an Independent. However, in 2006, he endorsed the Republican Jim Landtroop of Plainview in Hale County, who fell short in a highly publicized bid to succeed the retiring Democrat Pete Laney, a former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Landtroop rebounded to win the seat handily in the November 2, 2010, general election.

As mayor, Anders in 2006 embraced the "Reclaiming Stamford" project, which seeks to rid the community of dilapidated homes, vacant businesses, and overgrown lots. Anders cleaned up his own property, Anders Paint and Body Shop, and then participated in the removal of litter and debris throughout the city. Reclaiming Stamford is the idea of former city councilman Gary Decker and his wife, Connie. The program gets citizens involved in working together to clean up the city. It has been adopted in Breckenridge in Stephens County, Seymour in Baylor County, and Anson, the seat of Jones County.