In 2003, Molonai Hola sought to replace Rocky Anderson as Salt Lake City mayor. This year, he's trying again to replace Anderson — with someone else this time, and with the mayor's support.
Hola will chair the campaign of mayoral candidate Keith Christensen, the Republican businessman whom Anderson has endorsed in November's election to replace the outgoing mayor.
Hola, a Republican, placed third in a three-way race for mayor in 2003, losing in the primary election to Democrats Anderson and Frank Pignanelli. Anderson went on to win the general election.
This time around, Hola will be dealing with a much larger field of candidates: Christensen is one of 10 people who have said they want to run the capital city. The field will be winnowed to two in an October primary.
In a news release, Hola said he was joining the campaign team because of Christensen's "passion for this position." He calls himself an advocate for business leadership in the mayor's office and said Christensen will bring that leadership.