LA MESALA MESA — The fourth time was the charm for La Mesa downtown village Realtor Laura Lothian in ing the City Council.
Lothian, who failed in three previous attempts to become an elected official in the city of about 60,000, will be sworn in Tuesday, Nov. 23.
She will finish the last year of the four-year term of Dr. Akilah Weber, who in 2018 became the city’s first Black person elected to the City Council. Weber in April won the 79th Assembly District special election to take over the seat held for a decade by her mother, Shirley Weber. The Assembly seat opened in January, when Shirley Weber was appointed California’s secretary of state.
“I love La Mesa,” said Lothian last week while the County Registrar of Voters counted the final votes. “I love the small-town charm, and I love fact that everything I need is here.”
Lothian’s 4,474 votes captured about 38 percent of the city’s 10,703 ed voters who cast ballots. Endorsed by the local Republican party under the guidance of strategist Carl DeMaio, Lothian finished far ahead of Mejgan Afshan (2,523), Patricia Dillard (2,370), Jim Stieringer (1,275), Kathleen Brand (796) and Michelle Louden (205).
Her campaign pushed clean streets and parks; stopping the vehicle mileage tax ed by the San Diego Association of Governments and other groups; backing small businesses; and ing the Police Department.
Lothian, 60, was once a member of the city’s Parking Commission and is currently a board member with the La Mesa Village Association. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the City Council in 2012 and in 2020.
Also, as a relative unknown, she took on longtime La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid in 2010. She said she saw a letter to the editor in The San Diego Union-Tribune that mentioned how curious it was that no one was running against Madrid and decided she would give it her best shot.
That race was decided by 724 votes, with Lothian coming up short with 6,109 votes to Madrid’s 6,833. She said that election showed Madrid could be beaten. Four years later, Mark Arapostathis unseated Madrid after six leading the city. He captured more than 6,000 votes to Madrid’s 4,200. Arapostathis won re-election in 2018.
“I ran against Art Madrid not because he did anything horrible or awful,” Lothian said, “but because I don’t like somebody being in the same position 20 or 30 years. I love term limits.”
She said she plans to run again for a council seat when her term ends next November.
Lothian was born in Louisiana, grew up in New England and moved to Southern California when she was 20. She graduated with a journalism degree from Cal State Long Beach and has two adult daughters and one adult son.
She lives on Lemon Avenue, walking distance to her office in the village. She is one of the city’s most successful Realtors. Up at 6 a.m. and working until 8 p.m., she still carves out time to play pickleball five days a week, mainly at Collier Park.
“It’s a fantastic sport,” Lothian said. “Collier Park is my big go-to place. A few years ago the sport had a reputation of being for people in nursing homes. Now, if you’re 60, you can’t find a game with people your age. Everyone is younger. It’s a physically demanding sport that offers a good time and a great crowd. It’s been a great place to make friends.”
She said her “extremely hilarious and brilliant” father, who died of a heart attack at age 57, was an award-winning physicist for NASA. Her mother, “a Guatemalan beauty queen and ed nurse,” lives in Del Cerro. Her sister, Deborah Vance, is a successful real estate agent who lives in Imperial Beach.
