Dan Whitehurst

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title: "Dan Whitehurst" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "American lawyer" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Whitehurst" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American lawyer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Dan Whitehurst
image	Early image of former Fresno Mayor Dan Whitehurst.jpg
office	19th Mayor of Fresno
term_start	April 25, 1977
term_end	January 26, 1985
predecessor	Ted C. Wills
successor	Dale Doig
birth_name	Daniel Keenan Whitehurst
birth_date
birth_place	Los Banos, California, U.S.
party	Democrat
spouse	Kathleen McCann (m. 1969)
education	Saint Mary's College of California (BA)
University of California, Hastings College of the Law (JD)
::

|name = Dan Whitehurst |image = Early image of former Fresno Mayor Dan Whitehurst.jpg |office = 19th Mayor of Fresno |term_start = April 25, 1977 |term_end = January 26, 1985 |predecessor = Ted C. Wills |successor = Dale Doig |birth_name = Daniel Keenan Whitehurst |birth_date = |birth_place = Los Banos, California, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Democrat |spouse = Kathleen McCann (m. 1969) |education = Saint Mary's College of California (BA) University of California, Hastings College of the Law (JD)}} Daniel Keenan Whitehurst (born October 4, 1948) 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 (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 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.

References

References

1. (Oct 5, 1981). "Fresno Mayor Enters Race". Lodi News-Sentinel.
2. "Our Campaigns - CA US Senate - D Primary Race - Jun 08, 1982".
3. (4 February 2000). "Full Biography for Daniel K. Whitehurst". League of Women Voters.
4. "Our Campaigns - Fresno Mayor Race - Nov 07, 2000".

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