Lily Mei
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Lily Mei
| image = Lily Mei Portrait.jpg
| caption = Official portrait
| office = Mayor of Fremont, California
| party = Democratic{{Cite web |title=About Lily |url=https://lilymei.org/about-lily/ |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=Lily Mei for State Senate 2022 |language=en-US}}
| children = 2
| preceded = Bill Harrison
| successor = Raj Salwan
| term_start = 2016
| term_end = 2024
| termstart1 = 2014
| termend1 = 2016
| office1 = Fremont City Council
| education = Drexel University
}}
Lily Mei is an American politician who served as mayor of Fremont, California. She was elected mayor in November 2016, becoming the first female and first Asian American mayor of Fremont.
Life and career
Mei was born in Chicago and moved to Philadelphia at three years old. She attended Drexel University, earning a Bachelor of Science in business administration. She moved to Fremont in 1994 with her husband, with whom she has two children.{{Cite web |last=Doran |first=Robin |date=July 2021 |title=Meet Mayor Lily Mei, City of Fremont |url=https://jointventure.org/read-more-profiles/2215-meet-mayor-lily-mei-city-of-fremont |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=jointventure.org}} Mei began her involvement in politics as a Fremont school board member in 2008 and was reelected in 2012.{{Cite web |last=Geha |first=Joseph |date=June 2, 2021 |title=Fremont Mayor Lily Mei running for District 10 State Senate seat |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/02/fremont-mayor-lily-mei-running-for-district-10-state-senate-seat/ |access-date=March 7, 2025 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} Mei was elected to Fremont City Council in 2014.
In 2016, Mei campaigned to become mayor of Fremont against incumbent Bill Harrison.{{Cite web |last=Geha |first=Joseph |date=September 23, 2016 |title=Fremont mayor and vice mayor square off for top job |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/09/23/fremont-mayor-and-vice-mayor-square-off-for-top-job/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=East Bay Times |language=en-US}} The rate of development, traffic congestion, and class sizes of Fremont were among the most salient issues surrounding the election.{{Cite web |last=Geha |first=Joseph |date=November 4, 2016 |title=Fremont: Lily Mei wins mayor's race, Bacon and Salwan take council seats |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/11/04/fremont-mayor-and-council-race/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=East Bay Times |language=en-US}} Mei positioned herself as a candidate who would "stop rampant development", using the slogan prominently in her campaign, while Harrison portrayed Mei as stopping all development. On November 6, 2016, she won the election becoming the first female and first Asian American mayor of Fremont, and ultimately served two terms from 2016 to 2024.{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2020 |title=Fremont Mayor Lily Mei Wins 2nd Term To Lead Bay Area's 4th Largest City - CBS San Francisco |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/fremont-election-results-mayor-lily-mei-wins-2nd-term/ |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}
In the wake of the George Floyd's murder, protests against police brutality occurred across America including Fremont. At a march, Mei refused to kneel with protesters, later explaining that she only kneels when praying.{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2020 |title=Fremont mayor addresses refusal to kneel, as hundreds march to police headquarters |url=https://abc7news.com/fremont-protest-george-floyd-bay-area-today/6232493/ |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=ABC7 San Francisco |language=en}} In response, protesters demonstrated outside Mei's home a month later, demanding a reduction in police funding.{{Cite web |last=Geha |first=Joseph |date=July 7, 2020 |title=Protesters gather in front of Fremont mayor's home, demand police defunding |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/07/protesters-outside-fremont-mayor-lily-meis-home-call-for-cutting-police-budget/ |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} After former state senator Bob Wieckowski termed out in 2022, Mei ran to fill his seat representing California's 10th senatorial district.{{Cite web |last=Geha |first=Joseph |date=April 30, 2022 |title=Big labor, developer money rolling into state Senate District 10 race |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/30/big-labor-developer-money-rolling-into-state-senate-district-10-race/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} She won the primary along with Hayward councilwoman Aisha Wahab.{{Cite news |last=Christopher |first=Ben |date=April 18, 2022 |title=State Senate Hot Races - Voter Guide 2022 |url=https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/state-senate/senate-races/#hot-district-10 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=CalMatters |language=en-US}}
During the campaign, Mei was labelled anti-LGBTQ by the Alameda County Democratic Party for voting against recognizing Harvey Milk Day on school calendars and not voting to include queer authors in an AP English curriculum. She became ineligible for the party's endorsement and Democrats could be reprimanded for publicly supporting her. In response, Mei said she preferred celebrating more local activists than Harvey Milk and never banned LGBTQ books from Fremont schools.{{Cite web |last=Bajko |first=Matthew S. |date=February 2, 2022 |title=CA Senate candidate Mei trailed by anti-LGBTQ label |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=news&id=312669 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=Bay Area Reporter |language=en-us}} Special interest groups spent over $7 million on the election.{{Cite web |last1=Brennan |first1=Martha |last2=Rowan |first2=Harriet Blair |date=November 5, 2022 |title=More than $7.7 million spent in East Bay state Senate race |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/11/05/over-7-7-million-spent-in-east-bay-state-senate-race/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} Mei's largest donors were charter school advocates and DaVita, while Wahab's largest donations were from labor unions.{{Cite news |last1=Christopher |first1=Ben |last2=Kamal |first2=Sameea |date=November 3, 2022 |title=A gusher of campaign cash: Industry groups give big in California legislative races |url=https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/11/california-campaign-finance-industry-legislature/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |work=CalMatters |language=en-US}} On November 8, 2022, Mei lost the election.{{Cite web |title=2022 California State Senate Election Results {{!}} USA TODAY |url=https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/2022-11-08/state/california/upper/ |access-date=March 6, 2025 |website=www.usatoday.com |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Bill Harrison}}
{{s-ttl|title=Mayor of Fremont, California|years=2016–2024}}
{{s-aft|after=Raj Salwan}}
{{s-end}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|California|Politics|United States}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Lily}}
Category:21st-century American women politicians
Category:21st-century mayors of places in California
Category:American mayors of Asian descent
Category:Asian-American people in California politics
Category:City council members of Asian descent
Category:Democratic Party mayors in California
Category:Drexel University alumni
Category:People from Fremont, California
Category:School board members in California