The Holladay Mayoral race seems to be turning into a war of endorsements in the campaign’s final days.
Blaine Anderson, who is a Republican in this non-partisan race, recently sent a letter to residents signed by Josh Romney, Salt Lake County GOP Chair Chad Bennion and other high-profile Republicans endorsing his campaign. You can see a copy of the mailer obtained by UtahPolicy.com below.
Not to be outdone, independent candidate Robert Dahle sent out literature of his own featuring the endorsements of Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Democratic representative Carol Spackman Moss.
It’s not surprising that Bennion is getting involved in the Holladay Mayoral race, seeing that the Salt Lake County GOP is officially supporting Republican candidates in municipal contests.
“We made a conscious decision to get involved,” Bennion told Utah Policy. “We are going to help anyone who is a Republican. Some candidates self-identify as Republicans, and we are helping those who do.”
Dahle says he doesn’t align with any political party. “I’m an independent, largely because the parties have gone to the extremes and there’s no place for anyone to get involved in the middle.” He bemoans what he sees as the influence of the GOP creeping into a non-partisan race.
“The issues you would deal with as mayor have nothing to do with partisan politics,” he says. “It’s non-partisan for a reason. It’s curious that they would bring in someone who is not representative of Holladay for an endorsement.”
That’s not exactly true. Romney is a Holladay resident, as is Anne Marie Lampropolous, who is another signatory of the Romney email.
When reached for comment, the Blaine Anderson campaign said in a statement, “Blaine was able to secure the endorsement of Josh Romney and many other well-respected Holladay residents because he’s spent 20 years in Holladay building long-standing relationships.”
It will be interesting to see which endorsements have more pull with residents, if any, when they head to the polls.
