Dan Whitehurst

Daniel Keenan Whitehurst is an American former politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he was mayor of Fresno, California from 1977 to 1985. He 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.

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 for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. He came in fourth place with 167,574 votes.
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 Innovations in Government Program
1985-88 Executive Session on Community Policing, Harvard University
1993-94 Chairman, Fresno Metropolitan Projects Authority
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, Downtown Task Force
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.