After 12 years in public office, Salinas Mayor Kimbley Craig announces she will not seek re-election.

After two terms (two years each) as Salinas' mayor and two terms (four years each) as a City Council member, Kimbley Craig announced on Thursday, May 23 that she will not seek re-election to a third term. 

"I am honored and have loved serving the public and hope to continue doing so in some other meaningful form in the future," she said. 

Craig lists among her proudest accomplishments as developing the new El Gabilan Library in North Salinas. "Going from a postage stamp-sized library to a 22,000-square-foot, beautiful, state-of-the-art library, I am incredibly proud of," she says. 

Also high on the list is the rehabilitation of Salinas' downtown neighborhood. "I want a quality of life for residents where there’s a place to go for date night, or families can go for pizza after a little league game, there's nightlife for young people—and it’s safe and clean and fun," she says. "I am incredibly proud of that." 

Quality-of-life improvements and economic development, always part of Craig's campaign platform, are high on her list—but she also led the city through times of crisis. 

That included an expedited permitting process to help rebuild Taylor Farms' processing facility after a fire, potentially putting 1,400 jobs in jeopardy; the death of a police officer on duty for the first time in 80 years in the city; and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Craig had retired from public life in stepping away from council in her North Salinas District 5 after two terms, then came back to run for office during another crisis, after the death of former mayor Joe Gunter in 2020. 

She was elected into the pandemic crisis, and advocated to ensure Salinas—where Covid-19 infections disproportionately impacted the population—got its fair share of vaccinations in the early rollout. 

"I am proud of how I have led the city [through these challenges]," she says. "I immediately realized I needed to be a strong and bold and loud voice for Salinas residents."

Craig also ran unsuccessfully for county supervisor in 2022 after one term as mayor. 

She has long been outspoken in favor of better compensating public servants, and was never shy about noting that part of her motivation to seek higher officer was so that she could do it as a full-time profession. "I have been a businesswoman my entire adult life and served the public as a side hustle, part-time, for 12 years," she says. "I have found that my passion is in serving the public—that is really what I love doing. The political position that is full-time is supervisor; that wasn't in the cards for me, and that's OK." 

(In her day job, she serves as CEO of the Monterey County Business Council.)

Her reasons for leaving office are tied to a shift in the political dynamic on City Council, that has seen Craig often voting in the minority. (For example, she was the lone dissenting vote on Tuesday night, May 21, when it came time to appoint a new councilmember to a vacancy in District 3. Steve McShane resigned midterm from that seat, citing some of the same issues with a new dynamic that saw him and Craig often voting together.)

She says her departure is due to "a change in the direction of City Council priorities, the mass departure of leadership from City Hall and disrespectful City Council dynamics." 

Craig says she is not checking out, and will remain engaged for the remainder of her term until the end of this year, when a new mayor is sworn in. 

In the meantime, a new city manager, René Mendez, is set to begin the job next week, and the budget cycle is wrapping up before the new fiscal year starts on July 1. 

"There is so much going on at City Hall," Craig says. She credits dedicated city staff leadership—specifically Interim City Manager Jim Pia and City Attorney Chris Callihan—with keeping things moving forward. 

Craig is not yet sure what the future might hold as far as public service. "I need a minute," she says. (That minute will include long-delayed home projects, like painting her guest bathroom.) 

"I would like to continue serving the public in some meaningful way, and I'm not sure what that looks like yet," she says.