Rusty Bailey

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][2] He received a teaching credential from California State University, San Bernardino.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5] After receiving 32.6% of the vote in the primary election, Bailey entered into a run-off election against Ed Adkison,[6] and successfully won the race with 58.2% of the vote.[7] Bailey was sworn in as the 17th mayor of the City of Riverside in 2012[8] and was re-elected in 2016.[9]

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.[10][11] Bailey is not affiliated with a political party.[12] He currently works as a teacher at Poly High School.

Bailey and his wife, Judy, have two daughters.