Early in Tuesday night's city council meeting, council member David Lesser shocked colleagues and community members by announcing that he will not seek re-election this year.

Lesser has been a mainstay of local government since he joined the Parking and Public Improvements Commission in 2004, and soon after joined the Planning Commission, where he served until his first election to council in 2010.  

Lesser is completing his third council term, having served from 2011-2019, and again since 2023. He had pulled nomination paperwork three weeks ago, indicating a plan to campaign again for a fourth term, but ultimately decided against it. 

"Serving as your Mayor and Council member has been one of the greatest honors of my life," Lesser wrote in a message to colleagues and supporters. 

"Why not run for reelection? A City Council term is four years," Lesser wrote. "While hard to believe, I have not missed a meeting since my public service began in Manhattan Beach with a commission appointment in 2004.  Looking ahead, I have family obligations and plans to pursue other interests when my term concludes."

Council member Amy Howorth re-joined the council in 2023 after being voted in with Lesser. She told MB News, "I’m a little bit sad this morning. David Lesser has been my friend and  Council colleague for 12 years. We’ve been through a lot together."

"He elevated Council deliberations," Howorth continued. "He brought a thoughtful approach to every decision and, even when we disagreed, I respected his reasons and position."

Howorth is running for re-election this year, and with Lesser in the race, the two might have been expected to reprise their triumphant return to office at the November 2022 election. Both candidates at the time ran on experience and a desire to tone down local politics, ultimately prevailing over then-incumbent council member Susan Hadley. 

Lesser referred back to that campaign in his message to supporters. 

"In 2022, I ran for Council to counter the divisive discourse in our community that mirrored national politics," he wrote. "My platform was simple – to bring civility and collaboration back to our local government and get work done."

"Our national political environment has not improved much since then," Lesser said, "but I am proud to have achieved most of what I sought to do in our city."

Lesser cited as some notable achievements of recent years:

- "Getting our Senior and Scout Community Center back on track for construction;"

- "Enacting stricter e-bike regulations;" 

- "Approving a long-planned stormwater treatment project to stop city runoff from polluting our ocean;" 

- "Adding police officers to patrol our streets;" 

- "Reestablishing Council assignments to city schools to improve our city-school partnerships;" and

- "Seeking to improve our city’s fiscal position and saving taxpayers significant sums to demolish our Downtown Parking Lot 3." 

Lesser conceded that "[s]ome priorities remain unresolved, particularly efforts to limit the scale and impact of state-mandated multi-tenant residential projects coming to our community." 

In both his public remarks Tuesday and his email Wednesday morning, Lesser urged people to consider running for council. The deadline is one week away, August 12 – an automatic extension of the deadline from August 7, owing to Lesser's decision not to run. 

Current candidates who have pulled nomination papers are former council members Richard Montgomery and Mark Burton along with Howorth; and Joseph Ungoco and Tim Hageman. All but Hageman and Lesser have filed final paperwork, and so far Burton and Howorth have been certified as candidates by Los Angeles County. 

To obtain and file nomination papers, contact the City Clerk's office at 1400 Highland Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266. City Hall hours are Monday - Thursday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, and Friday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Please contact the City Clerk's Office at [email protected] or call (310) 802-5056.