SALT LAKE CITY — After refraining from publicly endorsing a candidate in the primary, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski officially threw her weight behind Sen. Luz Escamilla on Monday.

Biskupski — who withdrew from the race this spring citing a complex and private family situation — joined other notable LGBTQ advocates backing Escamilla during a news conference on the steps of the Salt Lake City-County Building to announce her endorsement.

“I am endorsing Sen. Luz Escamilla because I know she will inspire people and be a champion for all of us and the issue we care about the most as the capital city of Utah,” Biskupski said. “I know she will do this because she already is.”

Biskupski cited Escamilla’s track record as a state lawmaker fighting for underrepresented communities as the reason for backing her, saying Escamilla has the “fire in her belly” and ability to bring people together to advance minority issues.

“At this time in our nation’s history, I want Luz’s story of hard work and perseverance to be Salt Lake City’s story,” Biskupski said. “Today I am endorsing Sen. Luz Escamilla not because I believe she will lead in the same direction or manner that I have. I know there will be change. There has to be change. There is work to be done in this city.”

Biskupski said as she reflects on what she’s most proud of as her time as mayor, she often thinks about reading letters from LGBTQ kids expressing “gratitude” for “standing up and living my truth because seeing someone like me in the office I hold today gives them hope.”

“I want letters like that to continue to be sent to the Salt Lake City mayor’s office,” Biskupski said. “I want young people to see an amazing, intelligent and compassionate woman who looks like them running the city they call home.”

Escamilla, thanking Biskupski for her endorsement, told of how her little brother, Mario, faced “powerful” discrimination as a gay Latino man. She said seeing what her brother went through had a “profound impact in my life” and made her “so proud” of him.

“It inspired me to be proud of who I am and to exercise my right to the pursuit of happiness, like everybody else should be in this country, ” Escamilla said. “More importantly, it taught me to support and stand with our LGBTQ community and reinforce my sense of social justice.”

Biskupski joined other LGBTQ advocates including Salt Lake County Councilman Arlyn Bradshaw, an openly gay elected official, and Ermiya Fanaeian, a gun control activist and co-founder of March For Our Lives Utah who identifies as a transgender woman, and others to endorse Escamilla.

However, Equality Utah — the state’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group — has not endorsed either Escamilla or her opponent, Salt Lake City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall. Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, told the Deseret News his organization is not endorsing any candidate in the race.

‘They’re both strong allies to our community, so we’re staying neutral,” Williams said.

Right before Escamilla’s news conference, Mendenhall was holding her own press event, touring the Recursion Pharmaceuticals lab to unveil her plan to create a “sustainable tech ecosystem” in Salt Lake City.

At least one notable LGBTQ advocate, former Salt Lake City Councilman and now state Sen. Derek Kitchen (a key figure in the legal battle that successfully overturned the state ban on same-sex marriage) has endorsed Mendenhall, citing her track record for smart growth, fighting for clean air, and keeping the city at the negotiating table with the state in the dispute over the Utah Inland Port Authority.

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Former opponent David Ibarra endorses Erin Mendenhall for mayor

Salt Lake City mayor candidates who failed to advance past the primary are throwing their support behind their former opponents.

Biskupski and the City Council have long been at odds over the city’s negotiations with state leaders over what city officials have called a land use and taxing authority “power grab” when the Legislature created the port board.

Biskupski ended negotiations, standing firm on her position not to negotiate on a bill that she says has been “designed to incrementally force Salt Lake City to bend to the Legislature’s will.” Mendenhall, who was chairwoman of the City Council at the time, negotiated with state leaders to give some concessions to the city in a bill passed during a 2018 special session.

While discussing her lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Utah Inland Port Authority in June before the primary, Biskupski all but endorsed Escamilla, saying voters must do their own due diligence, but named Escamilla as the only candidate “who has stood strong on this issue.”

Though the tenor of the mayor’s race has remained mainly positive, Mendenhall has referenced Biskupski’s clashes with the City Council on issues including the Utah Inland Port Authority, saying “anger is not a strategy” when it comes to dealing with state leaders.

Both Escamilla and Mendenhall have pledged to continue Biskupski’s lawsuit against the inland port while also maintaining a working relationship with state leaders.

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