This part is sure: The roster of faces on the Salt Lake City Council will be different come January.
A dozen people have officially filed as candidates for the four City Council seats up for election this November, according to a list confirmed this week by City Recorder Keith Reynolds — but the District 5 incumbent, Darin Mano, isn’t one of them.
Mano, who was first appointed in 2020 to fill Erin Mendenhall’s post when she got elected mayor and then won a second term in 2022, announced earlier this year he wouldn’t run again.
Three residents have filed as candidates to replace him come the Nov. 4 balloting, in what will also be the city’s last go-round with ranked choice voting.
Utah’s capital has opted to use the instant runoff system of ranked choice for one last time this election after deploying it in the 2021 and 2023 municipal races. There was no primary election this year as a result.
A trial period for the ranked choice alternative voting method is being phased out by the Utah Legislature.
Here is a look at all the Salt Lake City Council races this year:
District 1
(Representing parts of Fairpark, Rose Park, Westpointe and Jordan Meadows.)
Incumbent Victoria Petro has filed to seek another term. She was appointed by the council in 2021 to replace Jim Rogers, who resigned. Petro was then elected to a full four-year term later that fall.
She will face two challengers this time: Yussuf Abdi and Stephen Otterstrom.
District 3
(Representing the Avenues, Capitol Hill, Federal Heights, Guadalupe and Marmalade.)
Incumbent and current council chair Chris Wharton is also chasing another term, which would be his third four-year stint.
He will face four competing candidates, according to the ballot slate certified this week.
Blake McClary and Liddy Huntsman-Hernandez had both informally declared their bids for District 3 earlier in the year and officially filed this week, along with two others — David Berg and Jake Seastrand.
District 5
(Representing Ballpark, Central Ninth, East Liberty Park and Liberty Wells.)
Not long after Mano announced he was stepping down after this year, Erika Carlsen put her name forward to replace him with a formal campaign launch, held in Central Ninth.
Carlsen now faces Amy Hawkins and Vance Hansen as challengers going into November.
District 7
(Representing Sugar House)
Sarah Young, the incumbent, will run unopposed this election. Young was initially appointed to the seat in mid-2023 after predecessor Amy Fowler resigned, then won at the polls that fall.