Mark Hughes has been on Benicia’s City Council since 2005 and has served as vice mayor since 2014. (Courtesy photo)

Staff Report

Benicia Vice Mayor Mark Hughes has announced his intention to run for mayor in the upcoming November election.
“When I first ran for City Council many years ago, my goal was to get into politics without becoming a politician; to make decisions and cast votes for what I truly believed was in the best interest of our entire community,” he said. “I feel good about my contributions over the years, and believe that my leadership skills, experience and expertise position me very well to be mayor.”
Hughes and his wife Michele have lived in Benicia for over 35 years. Four generations of Hughes’ family live in town, including his mom and his two children, Kelly and Stephen. Kelly is a fourth grade teacher at Joe Henderson Elementary School, and Stephen is a senior land agent at PG&E. Both of them went away for college, but returned to Benicia after graduation and purchased homes here.
“My wife and I were attracted to Benicia in 1981 because of its small-town charm, excellent schools, low crime rate, and family-friendly environment,” he said. “We bought our first house, and have never looked back.”
Hughes was first elected to the Benicia City Council in 2005, and has since been re-elected twice. He has served as vice mayor since 2014. He also currently serves on 11 boards and commissions, both for the city and the county. Hughes retired from PG&E three years ago, after a 36-year career, and says he now has more time to dedicate to the city.
“Many people asked me to run for mayor in 2012, but the combination of my very busy job and commuting back and forth to San Francisco every day would have made it difficult,” he said. “It really wouldn’t have been fair to me, my family or the city. Now that I’m retired, I have much more time and energy to dedicate to the city, and because of that, it is a perfect time for me to run for mayor.”
Hughes plans to continue to focus on the very things that brought him to Benicia many years ago.
“It’s critical to get the fundamentals right,” he said. “In order for a city to succeed, the City Council needs to focus on fiscal responsibility and accountability, high standards of public safety, community programs and services for all citizens, top- notch schools and education for our children, and ensuring we maintain the high quality of life in Benicia that we’ve all come to appreciate and enjoy. I am confident that I will continue to make a positive contribution to the city of Benicia, and as mayor, will bring strong leadership, integrity, and a no-nonsense, common sense approach to the City Council.”
Hughes has a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the University of San Francisco, and an MBA in human resource management from Golden Gate University.

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