The youngest politician to ever be elected mayor in Texas has now died at a young age. Randal Tye Thomas, 35, a former Gun Barrel City mayor, was found dead in his apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, by police on Jan. 13. Police conducted a welfare check on his residence after receiving a call from a concerned Cedar Creek Lake resident, according to a report in The Monitor. A Providence police officer, who was interviewed by a writer for The Monitor, said Thomas likely had been dead for several days. The cause of death was not immediately known, but there was evidence of possible drug activity found near the body, the officer said. A Providence newspaper reported Thomas had struggled with depression and bipolar disorder, and that he had moved to Providence to start over. Thomas was elected mayor of Gun Barrel City in 2000 at the age of 21. He gained statewide attention for being the youngest mayor to lead a city. In April of 2001 he was indicted by a grand jury on a perjury charge for lying about the length of his residency in Gun Barrel City to establish eligibility for candidacy. He resigned after serving a little more than a year in office, and the charges against him were dropped. Thomas was arrested on a public intoxication charge and hospitalized while he was mayor. Afterwards, he acknowledged mixing alcohol and Xanax due to the stress over the grand jury indictment. In recent years Thomas had lived in Dallas where he was married and divorced tiwce before relocating recently to Rhode Island. He operated a credit repair service, and he wrote a book about the subject. Thomas was raised in Mabank and graduated from Mabank HIgh School. He held a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Johnson & Wales University in Providence. He attended the school on a full scholarship and graduated in 1999. Thomas worked at The Monitor in advertising sales during the summers while in college, and he operated a newspaper in Gun Barrel City called Lakeside News after graduation. He also published a newspaper called Cedar Creek Briefs while in high school. Thomas was considered a rising star in the Texas Republican Party before his legal trouble developed, and he had announced he planned to run for state representative when his term as mayor ended. He also made history for youthful firsts by being elected at age 22 to serve as a member of the Electoral College for the 2000 Presidential race, Thomas was featured in Texas Monthly during his brief political career. Pictured below is Thomas in his younger political years.