LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two weeks after losses in the primary election, Democratic candidates Rep. Attica Scott, Shameka Parrish-Wright and Pastor Timothy Findley Jr. came together for an online discussion Tuesday night.
Parrish-Wright and Findley lost to Craig Greenberg in the race for Louisville mayor and Scott lost to Sen. Morgan McGarvey in the race for Congress.
“I think my race showed people power,” said Parrish-Wright. “It showed that a woman is electable if you vote for her, a Black woman, does have a viable chance. I think too many people didn’t take our races serious enough until the end. And those people, some of them looked like us and some of them looked like other folks.”
Findley called the election a powerful learning experience and said he was looking forward to continuing to reshape the narrative behind Louisville politics.
He also talked about fundraising challenges.
“These things aren’t free and I realize that in our community, oftentimes people are on shoe-string budgets and that’s why I didn’t push a lot, but I also want to make sure for those who would critique and say, ‘Why didn’t we see more of this? Why didn’t we see more of that?’ Well, support the campaign and donate,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Scott told Spectrum News 1 the election shows the city is divided.
“I’m also very clear that we still have not only a racial divide in Louisville in general, but there’s a political racial divide in Louisville and that was clear by the votes that were cast two weeks ago,” she said. “We’ve got work to do, y’all. We’ve got to get past thinking that Black people can’t lead politically. We certainly can and we have and we will continue to do so.”
As for whether they’ll back the Democratic candidates in the general election in November, no one pledged their support outright.
“I’m committed to doing what the people want me to do,” said Parrish-Wright. “I want them to know that they have a voice in me, and I’m going to always be honest with them, and I don’t even know how I’m going to vote in November.”