SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 22, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall appears destined for re-election.
Late night vote counts in the hotly contested race show her with a substantial lead over former SLC mayor Rocky Anderson, capturing 59 percent of the vote compared to 34 percent for Anderson.
Community activist Michael Valentine garnered seven percent of the tally.
The candidates were taking part in the first ever ranked-voting for the SLC mayor’s office, meaning if no one captured 50 percent of the vote, the last place candidate would be eliminated, while the remaining two would take part in a runoff election.
Mendenhall stopped short of declaring victory Tuesday night, but told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters the election “was a repudiation of cynicism” and a “rejection of the politics of fear.”
Anderson himself came close to conceding but said he’d been counseled to wait until all the votes were tallied, which could take until Friday.
After seeing the latest returns Anderson told the media “the writing was on the wall.”
