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

He earned a Master of Arts degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

[4] 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.

[10] 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.