These days, everything is crazy, so it doesn’t seem strange when a Hollywood actor announces that he will run for office in California. Former actors have frequently been elected to public office in California. Ronald Reagan, the most well-known actor-turned-politician from California, is joined by Clint Eastwood, Sonny Bono, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Each of them ran as a Republican.
Anson Williams, also known as Potsie Weber, is the Happy Days actor and director. He announced to the Ojai city council that he will run for mayor of his home city at the age of 71.
In Ventura County, Ojai is situated about 80 miles to the northwest of Los Angeles. It is a small city with fewer than 8,000 residents and is renowned for its boutique hotels, art galleries, and farmers’ markets selling organic produce grown locally. A city ordinance forbids chain stores.
But Ojai is in California, which isn’t as appealing. Williams might not run as a Republican, but I doubt it. His most recent political involvement involved a get-together with other Happy Days cast members to raise money for the Wisconsin Democratic Party and Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Only Scott Baio from the cast declined to help raise money for Wisconsin Democrats to support Biden. At the time, his refusal to support the reunion was a big deal. Baio didn’t want to make the program political. Individually, he backed Trump.
Williams will take on Betsy Stix, the current mayor of Ojai. He can officially launch his campaign on July 18 because that is the filing date. According to a local newspaper report, Potsie, er, Anson stated that the city requires “leadership that inspires a collaborative team.”
Anson Williams, a local actor and director, declared during the open forum that he would be running for mayor. “Leadership that inspires a collaborative team,” he claimed, is what Ojai needs. On July 18, candidates for all positions can formally declare their candidacy by filing paperwork with the county clerk for races taking place outside of the city for races involving the city.
Will city residents vote for a celebrity candidate instead of the current mayor? There have been stranger occurrences. Only 8,000 people live in the small city of Ojai. In the 1980s, Clint Eastwood served as mayor of Carmel. By 1980, Carmel had a peak population of 4,707 people. It has decreased since then and is still below 4,000. From 1988 to 1992, Sonny Bono served as mayor of Palm Springs. The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which is held annually in his honor, was his greatest achievement. A larger city is the retirement community of Palm Springs. The population has increased from 40,000 in 1990 to over 44,000 today.
I’m unsure if Winkler resides in Ojai and is therefore qualified to cast a ballot for his old friend. Most likely, he sent the tweet to express his support.
In 2016, he published a memoir. He was also given a colon cancer diagnosis in 2016. He claimed that following surgery in 2017, he is cancer-free. The future? Maybe the Wisconsin Democratic Party will pay it forward and contribute to his campaign. Unless they are preoccupied with trying to win their swing state’s 2022 midterm elections.
