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‘A far superior choice:’ Gov. Cox endorses Mayor Erin Mendenhall for reelection in Salt Lake City

‘We need a solutions-oriented mayor and not the endless dysfunction and litigation of the past,’ the Utah governor wrote on X.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox listens as Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall answers a question, during a news conference behind a new homeless shelter in West Valley City, on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.

A day after appearing next to Democratic Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall to announce law enforcement efforts to do away with homeless encampments, Gov. Spencer Cox said in a post on X that he backs the incumbent in her reelection campaign.

The Republican governor, who is making his own reelection bid in 2024, posted a screenshot of his only opponent in the race so far — state Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding — touting Mendenhall challenger and former Mayor Rocky Anderson’s approach to criminal justice. “[Incarcerated] people and their families have an earnest friend in Rocky,” Lyman wrote.

Anderson, who has run for public office as a Democrat and Justice Party candidate, says he is now unaffiliated.

“I completely disagree with Phil’s endorsement of Rocky Anderson,” Cox responded on X. “We need a solutions-oriented mayor and not the endless dysfunction and litigation of the past. I may disagree with Mayor Mendenhall, but she is a far superior choice for Salt Lake City Mayor than Rocky Anderson.”

The current and former mayor, in addition to a third candidate, Michael Valentine, will face off on Nov. 21.

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