David Garbett, Abi Goddey, sitting in for Rainer Huck, David Ibarra, Jim Dabakis, Richard Goldberger, Stan Penfold, Erin Mendenhall and Luz Escamilla take part in a Salt Lake City Mayoral debate at the Salt Lake City Library on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. Photo: Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Updated vote totals prompted former Utah state Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, to concede in the primary race for Salt Lake City mayor.
On Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News, Dabakis told Caplan that he’s “65 years old, that’s old! I’m ready to go on to the next chapter.”
The updated numbers from this week’s primary for SLC mayor show state Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, pulled ahead of Dabakis to take second place in the contest. Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, also a Democrat, retained first place with the updated count.
Debakis told Caplan that he knows both Erin and Luz and that no matter who wins, “we’re going to have a great mayor!”
In municipal elections, the mayor’s race is non-partisan, and the top two vote-getters move on to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Therefore, Mendenhall and Escamilla will move on to the general election for SLC mayor.
Despite saying that he is retiring from politics, Debakis told KSL Newsradio that he’ll start speaking out and asking where the money is coming from, “If there is some of this creepy, dirty, dark, dank, unnamed money that starts flowing around.”
