By Asia Samachar | United States |
Mikey Hothi has been unanimously selected mayor of Lodi City, making him the first Sikh to hold the position in the California city.
Hothi, first elected to the council in 2020 representing the council’s fifth district, has served as vice mayor this past year under mayor Mark Chandler, who announced last summer he would not seek re-election.
“Honored to be sworn in as the 117th Mayor of the City of Lodi,” he tweeted on Friday (23 Dec 2022).
Born to parents from India’s Punjab region, Hothi joins a growing list of Sikhs who have occupied the mayoral office in the United States (US).
In 2017, Ravinder Singh Bhalla became the US’ only directly elected turbaned Sikh mayor with his victory at Hoboken, New Jersey. The lawyer and city councilman emerged victorious in the six-person mayoral race, becoming the first Sikh mayor of the Mile Square City — and the state of New Jersey.
In the same year, Preet Didbal, an Indian-American daughter of a labourer who herself ‘did the peaches, the prunes’, was named as the first Sikh woman mayor of California’s Yuba City. The appointment also makes her the first Sikh woman mayor in the United States.
In 2020, Bobbie Singh-Allen became the first directly elected Sikh woman mayor in US when when won in Elk Grove, a city in Sacramento County, California.
Hothi graduated from Tokay High School in 2008.
Born to parents from India’s Punjab region, Hothi told the Lodi News-Sentinel that growing up in Lodi was a challenge, particularly after 9/11, when many Muslims and Sikhs experienced unfair harassment due to an perceived association to the terrorist organization responsible for the World Trade Center attacks.
But Hothi explained that his family not only survived, but thrived in Lodi. Many became business owners and entrepreneurs who still manage successful companies today. His family was also instrumental in founding the Sikh temple on Armstrong Road, he said.
“Our experience is similar to that of the Hispanic community that came before us, the Greek community, the Germans,” he said. “Everyone came to Lodi because they realized it was a safe family town. (It has) great education, great people, great culture, great values, and just hard-working people in this town. I’m just proud to represent this community as its next mayor.”
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