All eight of the candidates for Salt Lake City mayor will be allowed to participate in a debate later this month, a concession by organizers after plans to include only the top four, based on polling, were uniformly criticized by the mayoral hopefuls.
Polling released Thursday by the Alliance for a Better Utah (ABU), cosponsor of the debate, showed former state Sen. Jim Dabakis as the clear front-runner with 27% support. Sitting Sen. Luz Escamilla came in second, at 10%.
ABU is co-sponsoring the June 26 debate with the University of Utah’s John R. Park Debate Society and announced Thursday that including all candidates is the most fair way to compose the debate after their polling results did not produce a neutral way to differentiate a fourth-place finisher.