LEXINGTON, Ky. — This week we’re highlighting key races in this year’s Kentucky primary election. 

What You Need To Know

  • Lexington’s mayoral race has four contenders

  • Incumbent Mayor Linda Gorton vying to be re-elected

  • Gorton spoke to Spectrum News 1 on her key issue and priorities for her vision of Lexington

  • The Kentucky primary day is Tuesday, May 17

 

In the Lexington mayoral race, incumbent Mayor Linda Gorton faces three challengers: Adrian Wallace, David Kloiber, and William Weyman. 

In Nov. 2018, Lexington residents elected Gorton mayor winning 63 % of the vote.

Now, four years later, she’s vying for the spot again. Her focuses are on public safety, shaping safer neighborhoods, and within that, continuing to address crime.

“And in that is violent crime, that’s another part of safety and it’s a big part of it. So violent crime is kind of an overarching topic that includes arson, homicide, rape, assault, all the worst crimes,” Gorton said in a one-on-one interview. “And here in Lexington, we know that right now, we have had a large focus mainly through One Lexington and Safety Net and some of those programs on lowering our violent crime.”

Gorton said through the One Lexington program there has been progress giving an example of men who volunteered to mentor young people.  

“And we are very hopeful right now because our efforts have shown that between (20)20 and (20)21 our violent crime overall has decreased (by) 4%,” Gorton said. “This is not true across the country. Other cities are seeing a rise in violent crime. But we are going right to tackle the causes, the root causes of it. People don’t just decide at age 21 to pick up a gun and shoot someone. That is not how it works. There are causes that can go way back into childhood.”

With public safety a priority, Gorton also aims to increase the quality of life.

“I say over and over again if people don’t feel they’re in a safe neighborhood or a safe city, then they’re not going to enjoy other things like parks and arts and music and all the quality of life things trails,” Gorton said. “So public safety is a top priority. Affordable housing is also a big priority for me.” 

Gorton said the city government has no ability to control interest rates, costs of construction, or building materials for a home, but can build affordable housing so that people aren’t forced out of their homes because they can’t afford them.

“So in my current budget, not only do we have $10 million that the council and I put in for affordable housing through the ARPA funds, the American Rescue (PLAN). I’ve put two more million dollars in and then we’re establishing a brand new initiative where nonprofits can apply for no-interest loans, and they can take blighted properties, renovate them, and turn them back into affordable housing,” Gorton said. “This has never been done here and we’re really excited about the possibilities.

Another issue she’ll continue to tackle is reducing homelessness.

“We continue to work on our homelessness issue, which every city of any size has, and we just had our homeless count in February and the numbers in the last 5, 6, 7, years have dropped by almost half,” Gorton said. “We are down to about around 700 homeless here and we do everything that we can to be sure to move them into a shelter. Because the first thing is shelter, a roof over your head if you don’t have that it’s very difficult to get any kind of mental health help or any kind of job training or anything like that if you don’t have a roof over your head.”

She said the city is offering resources as well to address homelessness in the veteran population.

“We’re very proud of the fact that Fayette County is the first county in Kentucky to essentially do away with veteran homelessness,” Gorton said. “And what that means is if we find a veteran who’s homeless, we have a whole system that they can go into to first get housing, then get resources for help and then get job training if they need it.” 

Gorton also created the Mayor’s Commission on Racial Justice & Equality to root out systemic racism in the Lexington community in 2020. Earlier this year, Gorton also appointed a permanent Racial Justice and Equality Commission.

Gorton spent 16 years serving as a council member and 4 years as Vice Mayor before her first term as Mayor.

She is a registered nurse and a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

Kentucky’s election is May 17. If you have questions, visit our Voter Guide online and on our free Spectrum News app.