Atwater mayor drops out of race for District 3 Merced County Supervisor seat

Atwater Mayor Paul Creighton says he is no longer running for the Merced County Board of Supervisors District 3 seat.

Creighton, who last month said he planned to challenge incumbent Daron McDaniel in 2022, also mentioned he does not plan run for reelection as mayor when his term ends that year.

“I’ve got too much stuff going on right now. I have to focus on my business and my family,” Creighton said.

Still, Creighton said he’s not making any decisions about whether he might run for other races in the future, once his term in Atwater ends.

Thus far, no other candidates have stepped forward as challengers to McDaniel.

Creighton recently played a role in Atwater’s recent emergence from years of debt. The city was some $4 million in debt going back to 2012 and came up to the edge of bankruptcy, before Creighton and others joined the City Council.

Creighton said although his work for Atwater is far from over, the city’s standing on much better financial footing than it was in previous years.

“It feels good. The sense of accomplishment is an awesome feeling, where we took the city from where it was in really bad shape,” he said.

“I’m confident that new councils will never revert back to the reckless spending.”