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By Miriam Raftery
December 12, 2022 (La Mesa) – Patricia Dillard and Laura Lothian have won their races for the La Mesa City Council. According to the final certified results, Dillard will fill the seat vacated by Bill Baber’s retirement, drawing 8,600 votes, or 23.92%, while Councilmember Lothian won reelection with 8,414 votes or 23.40% -- just 11 votes above civil rights activist Mejgan Afshan, who got 8,403 votes, or 23.37%.
Pastor Tony Orlando drew 6,598 votes or 18.35%, while Kathleen Brand got 3,938 votes or 10.95% despite withdrawing from the race.
A Santee City Council race in 2020 resulted in a recount, though the outcome remained unchanged, with Dustin Trotter defeating Samm Hurst by a mere five votes.
But in La Mesa, where any registered voter can request and fund a recount, no recount request has been received. Any recount request must be received by Dec. 13, five days after the Dec. 8 certification.
On Facebook, Afshan conceded the race, while praising her supporters. “Unfortunately, we lost by just 11 votes,” she wrote, adding that her team of volunteers helped cure/correct 75-80% of “bad ballots,” such as ballots returned without a valid signature.
Afshan thanked her campaign workers and “the 8,403 fellow La Mesans that showed our entire region that equity truly matters here. I’ve never been more proud of my hometown, especially for pushing back against the xenophobic, Islamophobic, misogynistic and White Supremacist agenda that flooded our race with well over half a million dollars in propaganda mailers alone. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Borderlands for Equity, based in La Mesa and East County, we will continue to grow by advocating, educating and civically engaging with our community,” she said, urging community members to “commit ourselves to being the change we wish to see.”
Dillard posted this message on her campaign site, “I’m humbled & honored that the voters in La Mesa have cast more votes for me than any other candidate to La Mesa City Council. Thank you all for your votes and for your support! I greatly appreciate it.”
Dillard has served as co-chair of the city’s Police Oversight Board and has pledged to work toward building trust in the community, as well as focusing on affordable housing and homelessness.
Lothian told the San Diego Union-Tribune that she felt “elation and relief” to retain her seat after weeks of “pins and needles” as the counting continued.
Lothian’s victory assures a Republican voice on the Council, where the other councilmembers and mayor are all Democrats. Lothian, a realtor with an office in La Mesa’s downtown village, has been a voice supporting police and pushing back against high-rise rental housing.
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