After 13 rounds of voting, Salt Lake County Democrats chose Jiro Johnson to represent a swath of Salt Lake City on the Salt Lake County Council.
Johnson replaces former District 1 council member Arlyn Bradshaw, who resigned May 14 to join county Mayor Jenny Wilson’s administration. Johnson will serve out the remainder of Bradshaw’s term, which is set to expire in January 2027.
Members of the county party’s central committee who live in District 1 — between 100 and 200 people covering most of Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake, along with a slice of West Valley City — picked Johnson on Wednesday through a ranked choice vote crowded with 16 candidates. A 17th candidate withdrew before voting began, Salt Lake Çounty Democratic Party chair Jade Velazquez said.
“I am excited, I am thrilled, and most of all, I am honored that after so many great and qualified candidates were on the option block, the voters picked me,” Johnson said. “I hope to serve them as best I possibly can, and to truly, truly serve with diligence, and take that trust with me throughout this whole job.”
With 100 votes tallied in the final round, Johnson won 53 votes, six more than Tiffany Erickson, a PacifiCorp communications executive and former staffer for then-Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams.
The Salt Lake County Council will formally appoint Johnson to the position within seven days.
Johnson is a resident of Salt Lake City’s Liberty Wells neighborhood, and works as assistant director for the county’s public defender office. He has served as president of the Utah Minority Bar Association, his party bio states, and as an officer of the LGBTQ+ and Allied Lawyers of Utah.
“A very small subset of the Democratic Party is what put me into this office to replace Arlyn, and those are really big shoes,” Johnson said. “...I plan to bring my experience handling the least of us, and the unhoused and those with substance use disorders and mental health issues, and providing those lasting solutions that I know work from my experience being a public defender.”
The first issue Johnson said he hopes to tackle on the council is housing. District 1 has a “serious unhoused crisis,” he said, and Johnson hopes to advocate for lasting solutions that remove people from the criminal justice system and into treatment.
In a phone call just after 7 a.m. Thursday, less than 12 hours after his victory, Johnson said he does plan to run in 2026 for a full council term.
“Running for this election, you have to be willing to run for 2026 and you have to be willing to use this seat to help win the at-large district that’s currently in Republican control right now, to try and turn the county council blue,” Johnson said. “I committed to that. And technically, for me, the 2026 race starts this morning.”
