Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal cruised to reelection to a second term in a landslide over opponent Rosalinda Valencia who had all but called for his arrest at a council meeting.

The unofficial final results – which don’t include provisional absentee ballots dropped off at polling places – have Dhaliwal with more than 71 percent (1255 votes). Valencia got nearly 28 percent (491 votes). 

“I want to thank the people of Lathrop for having the confidence in me and giving me an opportunity to serve for two more years,” Dhaliwal said. “We need to work hard to make Lathrop an even better place to live and improve the quality of life in our city. That’s the work that we’re doing and I’m proud of the progress that we’re making as a team.”

Dhaliwal outspent and outraised Valencia by a wide margin after a ruling earlier in the year by the California Fair Political Practices Commission led to a $21,000 fine against his campaign – creating an immediate debt that he had to clear before he could mount his bid for reelection. A fundraiser at a restaurant in Stockton brought in big donors and even bigger bucks – Dhaliwal raised nearly $50,000 during the campaign – and support from local organizations like the Lathrop Manteca Firefighters Association also helped. 

 “I’m so glad that people rejected a negative campaign,” he said. “Right now we’re going to continue to work hard. We went out there and we knocked on doors and met wonderful people and what I’m happy about is that people like how things are going at City Hall, and tonight they put their stamp of approval on it. I also know that there are some challenges we have to work hard at to make sure we move forward on the right path, but we’re doing that.