but lost narrowly to Juan Vargas. Return to City Council In 2012 Salas ran again for election to the Chula Vista City Council, representing District 4. In the November runoff election she defeated Linda Wagner, 57.6% to 42.3%. Mayoralty Mary Salas was sworn-in as the first Latina Mayor of Chula Vista, California in December 9, 2014. She was sworn-in for a second term in December 2018. Election campaigns 2014 Having run unsuccessfully in 2002, Salas made her second attempt at the mayoralty of Chula Vista in the 2014 election. This was the first mayoral election to take place in Chula Vista following the passage of a 2012 proposition which amended the city charter to require mandatory candidate runoffs, meaning that, even if a candidate obtains more than 50% of the vote in the primary, a second round of the election would be held between the top-two finishers. Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan. The election was an open-race, since incumbent mayor Cheryl Cox was term-limited. There were two other candidates running. One was Jerry Rindone, who had been a member of the Chula Vista City Council from 1990 through 1998 and again from 2000 through 2008, as well as the vice chairman of Metropolitan Transit System, a member of the San Diego County Board of Education from 2008 through 2012, and president of Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce in 2013. The other was Pamela Bensoussan, who had been a member of the Chula Vista City Council since 2008. In the first round, Salas placed first and Rindone second, thus the two advanced to the second round. In the second round, Salas carried the endorsements of the San Diego County Democratic Party, Chula Vista Democratic Club, Eastlake-Bonita Democratic Club, Chula Vista Police Officers Association, and Chula Vista Firefighters Local 2180. Rindone carried the endorsements of the San Diego County Republican Party, Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce, Chula Vista Bonita Republican Women Federated, Latino American Political Association of San Diego, and U-T San Diego. Salas won the November 4 general election. 2018 Salas ran for reelection in 2018. Salas' pledge for a second term as mayor was that she would work to bring a four-year university to Chula Vista, complete the multi-billion dollar Bayfront development, address infrastructure concerns, and hire more police officers and firefighters. Salas had three opponents. One was Hector Gastelum, a Republican serving as a member of the