It looks like Sonny Dhaliwal won’t be the only incumbent in Lathrop that will see their seat challenged in November.
On Friday, Christina Campoy-Laughlin qualified to run for one of the two seats on the Lathrop City Council – currently occupied by Vice Mayor Diane Lazard and Councilman Paul Akinjo – that are up for grabs in November.
Longtime Lathrop resident Ryan Lum also pulled paperwork this week to run for one of the two available four-year terms but reportedly withdrew his nomination on Friday.
Campoy-Laughlin has been outspoken in her beliefs about a number of community issues including the City of Lathrop’s decision to start its own police department – she routinely pressed City Manager Steve Salvatore and the council for information during the transition – and has been actively encouraging residents in the community to run for the council to usher in fresh perspectives on the city’s governing board.
But this won’t be Campoy-Laughlin’s first foray into the local political scene.
In 2020 she ran to represent Area 7 on the Manteca Unified School District Board of Education, securing 1,214 votes – or 15.4 percent of the overall vote. The fourth-place finish was not enough to counter Marisella Guerrero’s 3,488 votes – nearly double that of second-place finisher Mike Morowit.
An executive recruiter by trade, Campoy-Laughlin moved to Lathrop in 2017 from the San Jose area to be closer to her father – who had lived in the community for nearly a decade at that point. Her husband, Chris, works in law enforcement in the Bay Area.
The nomination period for both the mayor’s race – five-time incumbent Sonny Dhaliwal will look to secure a sixth term against challenger John Thanh Do – and the council’s race was at 5 p.m. on Friday. Heading into the day no other candidate had pulled paperwork to run, meaning that barring something unexpected at least one of the two incumbent council members will secure another four-year term on the council.
For additional information, or to see the candidate statements that have been published, visit the City of Lathrop’s website at www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.
To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
