Sen. Jim Dabakis announced Tuesday he is jumping into the race for Salt Lake City Mayor.
Dabakis made the announcement outside of Rose Park Elementary School via his Facebook page, saying education was an important issue to him.
“I have done nothing but talk about education during my time in the legislature,” said Dabakis. “I believe we are letting our children down, and we are not doing what we need to be doing, particularly for at-risk kids.”
Dabakis added a mayor needs to be a “great ambassador” for the city and needs to be planning for the future.
“A mayor needs to know how to run a $300 million a year business. I will seek out the best experts, no matter what party they come from,” said Dabakis.
This will be Dabakis’ second run for SLC Mayor. In 2015, Dabakis announced he would get into the race, but dropped out 9 days later when he endorsed the current mayor, Jackie Biskupski.
Dabakis announced at the end of the 2018 Utah Legislature he would not seek re-election.
Dabakis joins businessman David Ibarra and Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold in the race. Biskupski has not yet announced whether she will run for another term.
