William R. "Rusty" Bailey III is an American politician who served as the 17th Mayor of

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. Elected in 2012, Bailey succeeded Ronald O. Loveridge.

Early life and education

Rusty Bailey was born and raised in

. He earned a Bachelor of Science in political science from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

in 1994 and served as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

helicopter pilot. He earned a Master of Arts degree in public policy from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He received a teaching credential from

California State University, San Bernardino California State University, San Bernardino (Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB) is a public research university in San Bernardino, California. Founded in 1965, it is part of the California State University system. The main campus sits on in th ...

Career

Rusty Bailey worked in the

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

and

Executive Office of the President The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The office consists o ...

as a part of the two-year

Presidential Management Fellows Program The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program was a two-year training and leadership development program at a United States government agency, administered by the Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), for ...

. 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 Riverside Polytechnic High School is a four-year public high school in Riverside, California, United States, and part of the Riverside Unified School District. The current facility, located on Victoria Avenue, was opened in September 1965; the ...

. 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. After receiving 32.6% of the vote in the primary election, Bailey entered into a run-off election against Ed Adkison, and successfully won the race with 58.2% of the vote. Bailey was sworn in as the 17th mayor of the City of Riverside in 2012 and was re-elected in 2016. 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. He currently works as a teacher at Poly High School.

Personal life

Bailey and his wife, Judy, have two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Rusty Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Riverside, California United States Military Academy alumni Military personnel from California United States Army officers United States Army aviators University of California, Los Angeles alumni People from Riverside County, California California State University, San Bernardino alumni Mayors of Riverside, California Mayors of places in California