Clint Eastwood had one successful term becoming the Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Carmel is a wealthy little town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula. Frustrated with the bureaucracy in Carmel's politics, he ran a last-minute, small-scale campaign emphasizing better relations between the business and residential communities.

 

On election day, April 8, 1986, with double the voter turnout, Eastwood garnered 72.5% of the vote and was elected to a position that paid $200 per month. During his tenure, he tried to weigh the rights of preservationists and develop the town for local business. At the end of his first time Mayor of Carmel, Eastwood decided not to run for a second term due to the number of small scale decisions required of the mayor in such a small town.

 

As mayor he repealed a municipal law that forbade anyone to eat ice cream on the sidewalk. Although Eastwood has been registered as a Republican since 1951 and supported Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, he describes himself as a libertarian. He says his philosophy is "Everyone leaves everyone else alone".

 

He voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California in the 2003 recall election, and again in 2006.