McDaniel says he’s delivering progress for local residents

The Merced County Board of Supervisors, and the county executive officer, begin 2026 with a goal of bridging the gap between government and local residents by “telling our story more effectively.”

So it was only fitting last month when Board Chairman Daron McDaniel gave an opening address during the first-ever State of the County event at the Merced Theatre.

For more than a decade, McDaniel has led the charge when it comes to speaking out about important initiatives, explaining plans and decisions, and engaging the public on multiple fronts.

His outreach ranges from monthly ‘mobile district office’ in Atwater and constant public engagements, to frequent ‘why this matters’ comments at live-streamed meetings, and a widely-viewed presence on social media.

“Probably in my second year of office, I started to really look at the lack of awareness about how county government works, and our involvement as supervisors,” McDaniel says. “You know, county government isn’t just out in the unincorporated areas. We are intertwined with the cities. And supervisors are actually sworn officers of the State Constitution. We are an extension of state and federal government. And I was like, ‘We need to tell our story,’ and then that idea turned into ‘How do we tell our story?’ … So now, with social media and other [tools available to us], we are trying to get our story out there [to more constituents]. … Talk about our wins, talk about our struggles, talk about the hard decisions we have had to make.

“We have our meetings two Tuesdays a month, and a lot of people don’t pay attention to our meetings. During this election [year], especially, I’ve noticed it. And I’ve taken a hard stance on my social media where people get really bold — just saying whatever they want — and a lot of these folks were highly opinionated, low informed. And that’s my fault. I needed to inform the public. I don’t know if you’ve been following my Daron McDaniel For Merced County Supervisor page, but at one point, we had over 100,000 viewers in three days, because of the information I was putting out. I was putting out the facts. I was putting out exactly how we try to make our decisions on which roads that we’re going to pave, and informing the public about how they didn’t have to call me if they had a pothole issue. You can do the ‘SeeClickFix’ on our website, and get it on your phone, and any problem you see in the county at all, you can take a picture of it with that app, and it will Geotag it, and send it to the county with the exact location of where it is — whether it’s trash being dumped, or whether it’s a pothole, or just something within the county [that needs to be addressed.]”

The Race

Yes indeed, it is an election year, and the 61-year-old McDaniel is seeking re-election to a fourth term on the board as a representative of District 3, which includes the City of Atwater, a portion of north Merced, the Franklin-Beachwood area, and McSwain.

For the first time since McDaniel took office in 2015, he faces a challenger: Luis Lara, a CHP sergeant who recently retired, and an Atwater native. The two candidates will be on the ballot for the June 2 Primary when the race will be decided by voters in the district.

The Record

McDaniel contends he is the clear choice for local voters because he has consistently followed through on projects and concerns while delivering results for residents in his district and throughout the county.

“From securing millions for critical infrastructure to strengthening public safety, my record is built on action not promises,” McDaniel says. “Experience matters, and Merced County can’t afford to start over.”

Among his highlights in office, the supervisor points to progress on the Atwater-Merced Expressway (AME) — a $100 million project that will create an efficient transportation route from Highway 99 to the Castle Commerce Center, and then eventually over to Bellevue Road for a connection to UC Merced and Campus Parkway. The project is expected to increase the movement of goods and services through the Castle Inland Port, create a so-called technology corridor for investment and growth, and improve the overall quality of life for local residents.

“As land comes up for sale, we’re paying at-market rate for those properties,” McDaniel says. “We’re going through the NEPA and CEQA [environmental review] process right now …  and we’re moving forward. I can see within two or three years this project will be well on its way, if not completed.”

The supervisor says the AME is considered fully-funded with federal, state, county and railroad industry commitments.

“I know the AME is going to really open up the whole area. … I think the Ferrari Ranch complex all the way out toward Castle is going to be developed. There are just a lot of opportunities not only for jobs, but for generating sales tax revenue. And then once it connects to Bellevue and into UC Merced, there is a huge opportunity for not only retail but for what we call a technology corridor, because we have a lot of these ag tech companies going in and working with the UC, and with what we have going on at Castle.”

The supervisor describes Castle and its surrounding area as “our biggest future.”

“What we’re seeing in some of our economic development studies is that at full buildout, one out of every five jobs in the county could be located in that area.”

McDaniel said he has been laser focused on attracting major employers and investment to Castle, including: TRC California for transportation research and testing, the Golden Valley Health Centers headquarters with more than 200 employees, and a new Cal Fire Training center and headquarters.

The supervisor was also part of the team that worked to secure a $49.6 million grant from the California State Transportation Agency for the 70-acre Castle Inland Port development. The project is expected to provide full service rail, expansive warehousing, and a multi-commodity transloading system through a partnership between Patriot Rail and Hydra Logistics. With interchange support from the existing BNSF Railway, the goal is to establish an inland port that connects Central Valley goods to California ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland.

“The important thing to know is that we’ve grown substantially … Not only do we have Waymo, but we have the Transportation Research Center. The amount of people we have working out there is incredible. They are constrained in their space because they are sold out 24/7, and they want to grow even more, and so we have them in contact with the private property owners around Castle for future growth.”

Meanwhile, Castle Airport has secured a new Fixed-Base Operator — KT Aero — and the company is already investing in operations and seeking an extended contract. “There’s future development and future plans they have going on out there,” McDaniel says. “It’s been really nice working with somebody who is wanting to invest and actually bring business out there.”

The airport is currently home to flight school operations, military and public safety uses, and private aircraft services.

“We did the air cargo study,” the supervisor explains, “and that includes UPS and FedEx and other companies, and it was disheartening. It was something that we already knew, because when we met with those folks, all of them, they kind of said the same things.  We just don’t quite have the rooftops. We’re not big enough yet to really be able to hold something like that.”

Undeterred, McDaniel says he is looking at “what we can do,” and that includes attracting major entertainment events to the runway space when available. The airport has already hosted two weekend Air Shows on the tarmac, and a Luke Bryan country music concert last year that brought in 20,000 fans.

“When you can bring 20,000 people into one spot, the economic impact is amazing. From Boot Barn to Envy to Tractor Supply to grocery stores to gas stations and sold-out hotel rooms — all of that brings revenues into our county.”

Despite success at Castle, McDaniel says he is particularly proud of work that goes under the radar, so to speak, including the effort it took to bring a new Community Park to the Beachwood-Franklin neighborhoods this year. And not to mention protecting that same community from future flooding.

“The Black Rascal Creek Flood Control Project,” McDaniel states with serious concern. “That’s a big one that we don’t really talk about very much. In fact, the first day I was elected and in my office, CEO Jim Brown came in and presented it to me because he knew I used to do natural resources for Congressman Denham. For 18 years, they have been working on the flood project — a retention dam to slow the waters down coming into the creek that floods the Beachwood-Franklin area. And for 18 years they were just hitting dead-ends all the time. So we redirected our focus to ‘Where do we get USDA Rural Development money’ and other solutions. We took a whole different approach. It’s fully funded as well, but it was held up with the Army Corps of Engineers. However, the Corps has given us a letter of acceptance, and so now we’re just waiting for them to sign off on the permits so we can start moving dirt. It’s been a long process. What happens is that it depends on the administration in Washington D.C. and how folks in these departments move. The last time we were in Washington, we brought it up and pushed hard, and finally one of the Trump appointees pulled up our document and said, ‘This should have been done in ’23. What’s the hold up here?’ … From that meeting, which was in February, we’ve already received a letter of acceptance and we’re moving forward.”

A Man Of Faith

From a more personal side, McDaniel openly shares his spiritual faith with family, friends and constituents.

“I am playing a role that God has put before me,” he says. “Isaiah 6:8 is my favorite Bible verse. You know, ‘Pick me Lord. Send me.’ … I’ve always been very close to God, and I’ve just felt like through my walk as an elected official, I feel like I’m doing what the Lord put me in place to do.”

The supervisor says his faith and the power of prayer have helped him while working with constituents who, for example, may be struggling to help a family member who needs mental health services. It has also given him strength to endure challenges within his own family, including losing his mother and father-in-law in recent years, as well as going through a cancer scare last year with his wife Buffy that they ultimately overcame.

“We were scared. I’ve never gone through anything like that. It was a gut punch whenever you get the cancer notification, but we retooled our life at that moment and focused on each other. And to this day, I can say we are better than we were before because we walked through the process with Christ. We became closer than we ever have. We were close before, but this really gave us the opportunity to come together and focus on it. Today, I’m better, she’s better … and we just appreciate every moment in life now.”

Now the couple is enjoying life with their first grandson, a little baby named Arol Ryel McDaniel, who is named after his great grandfather who used to own the old Green Belt Farm Supply store in Merced.

“It’s changed everything,” Daron McDaniel says. “He’s perfect.”

--Jonathan Whitaker, Editor in Chief of Mid Valley Publications, overseeing the Merced County Times and Atwater-Winton Times. You can reach him directly at 209.580.9625, at our Merced office at 2221 K Street (209.383.0433), or by email at MercedCountyTimes@gmail.com