“Ready for Change”: Pocatello Mayoral candidates reflect on election and city’s future
Maile Sipraseuth
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)– Following the local elections, Pocatello is guaranteed a new mayor by December 2, 2025. Mark Dahlquist had 40% of the votes, and Greg Cates had 30%. Both mayoral candidates believed that Blad’s shortcomings were due to a time for change.
Left: Mark Dahlquist, Right: Greg Cates
“I think the city was just ready for change. You know, they made one thing clear last night in the election is that they’re they’re ready for new leadership. And they just want things to change in our city. And I do believe that over the last 16 years our city has been going backwards instead of forwards,” Cates said.
“What I was hearing really quite often was that people were ready for a change, that they were yearning for a new direction, a new perspective, a new style of leadership,” Dahlquist said.
Both candidates recognized their challenges within their campaign, including some positives.
“There’s 58,000 people in this city. And just getting everyone to know who you are. Come Election Day is very difficult. So getting out there, and speaking to the community, keeping up with the, with the forums and, and the meetings, making sure that people knew who I was as best I could during that time, what my goals are for the city and the types of things I can do to make our place a bit better place to live for everybody,” Cates said.
“While actually running a campaign, it’s been a very positive experience. I honestly haven’t seen a lot of challenges. I’ve just really learned going through this exercise since late August, that there are a lot of really great people out there in Pocatello. So many people with community spirit and want to see our community grow and go forward. Just the amount of support and enthusiasm that’s out there and people that care that span are really pleasant surprises,” Dahlquist said.
The mayoral candidates both expressed their gratitude towards Mayor Blad for his 16 years of service.
“I would really like to thank Mayor Blad because running the city and doing that for 16 years, it’s a tough job. It’s a challenging job. Mayor Blad has always been a great cheerleader for the city, and he loves the city. events and ribbon cuttings and things like that and events that make Pocatello better… It’s a tough job and I wish him well and whatever his new endeavor is,” Dahlquist said.