EMILYs List Endorses Erin Mendenhall for Reelection as Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Erin Mendenhall for reelection as mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of the Madam Mayor program. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
“As in so many other states across the country, Democratic pro-choice champions in Utah are working hard every day to hold back the dangerous and extreme restrictions on abortion care that Republicans are trying to muscle through. Mayor Erin Mendenhall has been a critical voice for reproductive freedom in the Beehive State, and her historic administration has delivered tangible victories for the people of Salt Lake City — making transit and housing more affordable, reducing violent crime, and fighting for equality for LGBTQ+ residents. Mendenhall’s service as mayor has been exemplary, and EMILYs List is proud to endorse her campaign for reelection.”
Erin Mendenhall is the 36th mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, where she has served since 2020. She has lived in Utah most of her life and graduated from the University of Utah, where her passion for science and public policy deepened, leading to a career in environmental protection. Mendenhall first became involved in public activism when she became a mother and learned of the crisis of air quality in Salt Lake City. After starting a nonprofit dedicated to improving air quality, Mendenhall was elected to the Salt Lake City Council and served six years there before being elected mayor. As mayor, she has focused on advancing economic development, continuing to make the city more environmentally sustainable, and ensuring equal access to resources for every resident of Salt Lake City.
In an effort to expand the work of electing and supporting local women leaders serving in executive office, EMILYs List launched Madam Mayor in the summer of 2023, a program to highlight and support women running for local executive office across the country. This program was created acknowledging that women, and particularly women of color, face more misinformation and disinformation when running for office, which hurts their candidacy and has a chilling effect on recruitment. At a time when local executives are facing more challenges than ever before, these attacks have proven especially prevalent for women running in these positions, and the Madam Mayor program will serve as a critical touchpoint for these Democratic pro-choice champions to receive the resources and support they need to serve their communities.
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
