De Vries will be running against fellow councillor Karen Harper and Save Our Saanich candidate Rishi Sharma in upcoming local general electionZac de Vries is a UVic alum and current two-term District of Saanich councillor — the municipality in which most of UVic resides. De Vries graduated from UVic in 2017 with a double major in political science and geography, and ran for council the year after. On June 18, he announced his intent to run for mayor of Saanich in this fall’s municipal elections. De Vries said he was prompted to run for mayor after Dean Murdoch, Saanich’s current mayor, announced he would not be running for re-election this year. Fellow Saanich councillor Karen Harper has also announced her intent to run for mayor.