Except for that 2010 upset—when challenger Felix Bachofner edged him out by 21 votes—Ralph Rubio has kept a pretty firm lock on his role as Seaside's mayor.
Rubio served as a Seaside city councilman from 2000-2004, mayor from 2004-2010, then retook the seat from Bachofner in 2012. He's officially running for re-election.
Today's announcement comes with a slick campaign website and endorsements from heavy-hitting politicians like Congressman Sam Farr, Assemblyman Luis Alejo and State Senator Bill Monning.
Rubio, who retired in January from his day job as senior field representative for the Carpenters Union in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, is a Democrat with a strong focus on growing the local economy.
That includes pushing for the desalination project led by California American Water. Rubio was among the 11 local mayors who opposed Measure O, an unsucessful ballot initiative for a public buyout of the private water company.
"In addition to continuing to work on our water solutions, I plan to continue aggressively improving the revenues for city services," he stated in a press release. "The projects in the pipeline will provide those revenues and much needed jobs for our community."