Dan Whitehurst (born 1948 in Los Banos, California), is a former California politician. Whitehurst started college at age 16 and law school at age 20. He practiced law briefly and then worked for a time at his father's funeral home before entering politics in 1975. He was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

from 1977 to 1985.

Civic career

Whitehurst was a member of the Fresno City Council from 1975 to 1977, and was elected mayor of Fresno in 1977. He took office at the age 28, making him the youngest mayor of a major city in the U.S. and the youngest mayor in the history of Fresno. In 1982, while still in office as mayor, Whitehurst ran against California Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. He came in fourth place with 167,574 votes (6.10%). After leaving office in 1985, Whitehurst remained active in local politics. His public service included the following: * 1986–present Chairman, California Healthy Cities Steering Committee * 1986-87 Program Evaluator,

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Innovations in Government Program * 1985-88 Executive Session on Community Policing, Harvard University * 1993-94 Chairman, Fresno Metropolitan Projects Authority (Arts to Zoo Commission) * 1997-99 Chairman, Great Valley Center Whitehurst also served on various advisory committees for: Fresno State, Regional Medical Center, Central California Futures Institute, Boys and Girls Clubs, Fresno County Association for a UC Campus, Fresno Unified School District, Citizens for Community Enrichment (Arts to Zoo), Downtown Task Force (ULI Study) Whitehurst practiced also law and was in various business ventures. He again ran for mayor of Fresno in 2000, but he lost to Republican Alan Autry.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehurst, Dan 1948 births Living people 20th-century mayors of places in California Mayors of Fresno, California California city council members California Democrats California lawyers People from Los Banos, California Saint Mary's College of California alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni