William R. "Rusty" Bailey III is an American politician who served as the 17th Mayor of Riverside, California. Elected in 2012, Bailey succeeded Ronald O. Loveridge.
Rusty Bailey | |
---|---|
17th Mayor of Riverside | |
In office November 2012 – December 8, 2020 | |
Preceded by | Ronald O. Loveridge |
Succeeded by | Patricia Lock Dawson |
Personal details | |
Born | William Russell Bailey III[1] Riverside, California, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic[2] |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | United States Military Academy (BS) University of California, Los Angeles (MPP) California State University, San Bernardino (GrDip) |
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Rusty Bailey was born and raised in Riverside, California. He earned a Bachelor of Science in political science from the United States Military Academy in 1994 and served as a United States Army helicopter pilot. He earned a Master of Arts degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.[1][3] He received a teaching credential from California State University, San Bernardino.[4]
Rusty Bailey worked in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and Executive Office of the President as a part of the two-year Presidential Management Fellows Program. He later returned to Riverside and worked as a legislative aide to County Supervisor John F. Tavaglione. He was employed at the Riverside County Economic Development Agency and taught high school government at Riverside Polytechnic High School.[5]
Bailey served as a member of the Riverside City Council from 2007 to 2012. In 2012, Bailey began his bid for Mayor, running in a field that included 3 of his Council colleagues, including Ed Adkison, Andy Melendrez and Mike Gardner.[6] After receiving 32.6% of the vote in the primary election, Bailey entered into a run-off election against Ed Adkison,[7] and successfully won the race with 58.2% of the vote.[8] Bailey was sworn in as the 17th mayor of the City of Riverside in 2012[9] and was re-elected in 2016.[10]
In 2019, Bailey announced that he would not seek another term as mayor and focus his efforts on the local homeless crisis as a non-profit executive for Path of Life Ministries.[11][12] He currently works as a teacher at Poly High School.
Bailey and his wife, Judy, have two daughters.