Mary Casillas Salas

Mayor Mary Casillas Salas was elected to Mayor of Chula Vista in 2014 becoming the first elected Latina mayor in Chula Vista and the County of San Diego.

Mayor Casillas Salas is committed to public safety, effective stewardship of public funds, and careful planning that leads to superior sustainability of community resources. Serving her hometown has always been Mayor Casillas Salas' passion. Her effective leadership and consensus-building skills are her strength. She led efforts to secure funding for new urban parks, formed strategic partnerships with various government agencies to ensure the completion of Olympic Parkway and other major traffic thoroughfares, played a key role in the planning of the award-winning communities of Eastlake, Otay Ranch, and San Miguel.

In 1991, she began her public service on the Chula Vista Civil Service Commission. She was appointed to the City’s Planning Commission in 1993 where she served until elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 1996. In 2000, she was re-elected with 66 percent of the vote. After leaving the Council in 2004, she served as a Director of the Sweetwater Authority/South Bay Irrigation District. In 2006, she was elected to the California State Assembly where she chaired the Committee on Veteran's Affairs. She also served on the Jobs, Economic Development and Economy Committee, the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee, and the Health Committee. Beginning in 2012, she served as City Councilmember before her election as Mayor of Chula Vista.