Alejandra Sotelo Solis was not the first woman to lead her city —that would have been Thelma Hollingsworth—but Sotelo Solis was the first to guide National City through one of its most menacing periods.
The same can be said of Mary Salas, former mayor of Chula Vista.
Both women had already been ushered into the Hall of History when each became the first Latina elected to be mayor of their respective cities.
However their significance is made all the more apparent when considered against the backdrop of the times.
By 2020, a termed-out Salas was already at the midway point of her second stint in office. Sotelo Solis, on the other hand, was two years into her first.
Presumably one was making plans for life post City Hall while the other was mapping out the next two political years and beyond. Then COVID-19 came along.
Sotelo Solis, Salas and the people they represented had never before seen anything like this virus. The last disease to cause such world wide havoc was the ill-named Spanish Flu of 1918.
One hundred years later both women found themselves in leadership roles in the midst of a legitimate pandemic.
As most mayors in California did, they followed the governor and the state’s lead when stay-at-home orders were issued. They acted responsibly, with the well-being of the many in mind rather than the few when they urged people to stay home, mask up and keep their distance in the first year of the global pandemic.
Salas and Sotelo Solis were in a uniquely difficult position compared to other mayors in the county because the populations of Chula Vista and National City—with their significant working class and Latino demographics—were at greater risk of contracting the disease because of preexisting health conditions brought on by underemployment and inadequate health insurance.
It was a deadly time for the country (COVID-19 caused more than 1 million deaths) and National City and Chula Vista, who led the county in the number of reported cases.
Both demonstrated even-handed leadership in getting their constituents through the darkest days of the pandemic. Something to remember on this fifth anniversary of COVID-19 and women’s history month.
