SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A former state legislator, a longtime city councilman and two-term incumbent Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker are among the five candidates squaring off in a primary election next week to run Utah’s capital city.
Tuesday’s election will whittle the non-partisan race to two candidates who will compete in the Nov. 3 general election.
A look at the candidates in the primary race:
RALPH BECKER
Becker, who has served as mayor since 2007, has taken on several high-profile roles in recent years, including his current position as president of the National League of Cities. He’s also one of about two dozen city and state leaders appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on a White House task force studying the impact of climate change on communities.
Prior to serving as mayor, Becker was a state legislator and spent five years as the Democratic leader in the House.
Before Becker, the last Salt Lake City mayor to seek a third term was Ted Wilson in 1983. While he won the election, Wilson stepped down halfway through that term to work at the University of Utah.
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JACKIE BISKUPSKI
Jackie Biskupski was elected to the Legislature in 1998 and served as Utah’s first openly gay state lawmaker. While in office, she fought for gay rights and tried to combat bias among other lawmakers in the conservative statehouse. She resigned in 2011 after moving out of her district for family reasons.
Since leaving the Legislature, Biskupski has worked in the office of Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder and as an organizer with Real Women Run, a Utah group dedicated to raising the number of Utah women in politics, among other organizations.
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LUKE GARROTT
Luke Garrott has served on the Salt Lake City Council since 2007 and is currently its chair. Garrott is also a political science professor at the University of Utah.
During his time on the council Garrott sponsored a measure that required restaurants to open drive-thru lanes to cyclists if the lobby is closed. Garrott said it made the city less car-centric and prevented businesses from discriminating against cyclists who want to get a meal on the go. Utah’s Legislature later overturned the measure, arguing it could create dangerous situations and interfered too much with private businesses.
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DAVE ROBINSON
Businessman Dave Robinson owns a construction company and a consulting firm in Salt Lake City. He has served with several community groups that focus on land use, transportation, mapping and other issues involving Salt Lake City-area canyons.
He says he’s running for mayor because he feels Becker’s administration hasn’t done enough to conserve and protect canyon lands or reduce Salt Lake City’s homeless population, among other issues.
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GEORGE CHAPMAN
Community activist George Chapman is a retired engineer who has been a stalwart presence at City Council meetings and frequent critic of the mayor’s handling of transportation issues, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Chapman says there’s been an increase in crime in some downtown pockets of the city and he’d like the city to hire more police officers.
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