Salt Lake County Democrats will choose from among 17 candidates next month to fill a vacant seat on the Salt Lake County Council.
Council member Arlyn Bradshaw, who represented District 1, resigned May 14 to join county Mayor Jenny Wilson’s administration.
Members of the county party’s central committee who live in District 1 — between 100 and 200 people covering most of Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake, along with a slice of West Valley City — will pick Bradshaw’s successor through a ranked choice vote.
Whomever they choose on June 11 will serve the remainder of Bradshaw’s term, which is set to expire in January 2027. The council will then formally appoint the winning candidate within seven days.
Here is who’s running:
Evan Done
Evan Done serves as advocacy and public policy director for Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness and heads the county’s Behavioral Health Services Advisory Council. Done’s experiences as a queer man in long-term recovery from substance abuse combined with his policy expertise have prepared him to “tackle the toughest challenges facing Salt Lake County,” according to his bio on the county Democratic Party website.
Tiffany Erickson
Tiffany Erickson is a resident of Salt Lake City’s west side and oversees external communications at PacifiCorp, supporting public policy and community initiatives across the West, according to her bio. She previously served in the county mayor’s office under former Mayor Ben McAdams.
Nick Glenn
Nick Glenn serves as executive director of the county Democratic Party, so two other members of the party’s leadership team will run the election to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Glenn has worked in nationwide and Utah campaigns to elect Democratic candidates and, according to his bio, is “ready to take the next step” to serve in public office.
Jiro Johnson
Jiro Johnson is an attorney and serves as assistant director for the county’s public defenders office. He has served as president of the Utah Minority Bar Association, his bio states. and as an officer of the LGBTQ+ and Allied Lawyers of Utah.
Tom Merrill
Tom Merrill is the founder and principal of a health care policy advisory firm headquartered in Salt Lake City. He also serves as president of the American Towers residential community and previously led the Downtown Community Council, according to his website.
Jeanette Padilla Vega
Jeanette Padilla Vega is the founder and CEO of the Food Justice Coalition, a Utah-based volunteer organization that partners with farmers and restaurants to feed the hungry. She’s also spent time as a policy adviser. Her experience as the daughter of Mexican immigrants and experiencing homelessness as a child, her bio states, “fuels her commitment to building a more just and inclusive county.”
Billy Palmer
Billy Palmer most recently served as director of campaigns for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. He also co-founded Let Utah Read — a coalition of Utahns against the censorship of reading materials — and his leadership as a community organizer garnered him the Presidential Volunteer Service Award for Economic Equality from former President Barack Obama, according to his bio.
Kevin S. Parke
Kevin S. Parke is a Rose Park resident on Salt Lake City’s west side and served on the Rose Park Community Council since 2014, most recently as chair. His bio states he also serves on the Westside Coalition, the Utah State Title and Escrow Commission and the WeConnect Community Advisory Board, which works to address the elimination of the East-West divide.
Nate Salazar
Nate Salazar manages the nonfiction and audiovisual department at Salt Lake City’s downtown library. In 2018, he was elected to the Salt Lake City School Board and, according to his bio, became the first Hispanic/Latino school board president in Utah history in 2023.
Paul Sanchez
Paul Sanchez serves on the South Salt Lake City Council and vows, in his bio, to be a “voice for transparency, fiscal responsibility and people-first policies.” He was arrested in March 2024 when he attempted to attend a council meeting after his fellow council members had ordered him to join meetings virtually for at least the next three months. He had been censured by the council a week earlier due to social media posts in which he allegedly released personal details of a fellow council member.
“I’ll be the first to admit I’ve made mistakes,” Sanchez adds in his bio. “But I’ve also learned, grown, and stayed committed to putting the needs of my constituents first.”
Valerie Stormont
Valerie Stormont leads the nonprofit side of Blueprint Public Affairs and has helped to raise money for organizations like The Road Home, Planned Parenthood and the Utah Democratic Party, according to her bio. She also served as a PTA president, a coach for nonprofit Girls on the Run and has worked “behind the scenes” on political campaigns.
Mohan Sudabattula
Mohan Sudabattula is the founder and CEO of Project Embrace, a nonprofit that works to reduce health disparities and provides medical supplies for those in need. In 2020, he ran to represent House District 42 but failed to secure party’s nomination.
Nigel Swaby
Nigel Swaby has lived on Salt Lake City’s west side since childhood, according to his bio. He owns a marketing firm and is a licensed real estate agent. He previously served as chair of the River District Chamber and the Fairpark Community Council.
Tenille Taggart
Tenille Taggart serves as treasurer for the Utah Stonewall Democratic Caucus and a west-side newspaper, The West View, according to the bio. Taggart has also worked as a data scientist, therapist and university instructor in clinical psychology over the past 10 years. Taggart volunteers with Planned Parenthood Utah, and, in 2025, received the county party’s Democratic Believers Award for “mobilizing thousands to act locally.”
Ana Valdemoros
Ana Valdemoros co-founded Argentina’s Best Empanadas, Square Kitchen and Square Kitchen Eatery and has lived in downtown Salt Lake City for more than 25 years. She was the first Latina elected to the Salt Lake City Council representing District 4, and, according to her bio, served five years advocating for affordable housing, small-business growth and thoughtful urban development.
Lori Wike
Lori Wike is a principal bassoonist of the Utah Symphony and an adjunct music professor at the University of Utah. She got engaged with local government to advocate for Abravanel Hall and, her bio states, was honored as a key player in Preservation Utah’s Advocacy in Action Coalition Award.
Aaron Wiley
Aaron Wiley lives on Salt Lake City’s west side and is the CEO of Idynify, where he helps businesses with sustainable strategies, according to his bio. He also served as state director of Obama’s 2008 campaign. He ran unsuccessfully last year against Republican Sen. Todd Weiler in the race to represent Senate District 8.