LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton told LEX 18 that she will rely on her record to do the talking after announcing her intention to run for a third term in office next year.
“I am a public servant and I’ve never seen myself as a politician. I have a deep, long record and it’s very positive. And I urge people to look at my record, and I’m transparent,” Mayor Gorton said from outside her office at the city’s government center, which she said is closer to becoming their former office building.
“We are in negotiations with a specific owner of a specific property. It is downtown, and we are close to finishing those negotiations,” she said. “We need to have a place for our employees to work that is safe and doesn’t have a roof that leaks. We’re here in this 110-year-old building, it was a beautiful hotel, but it was never meant to be an office building."
The mayor has identified several additional items she’d like to accomplish, which includes building the police and fire department training academies, and rectifying the city’s homeless issue.
“I have a lot of things left to do and many of them are big,” she stated.
Mayor Gorton said the number of those without a home grew by another 100 people during the last year.
“I want to get a better handle on our homeless issue. We need to be innovative with that, and do something different,” she said. “We've identified a place and we're talking with council members. We must have a shelter. We can't leave people out in the freezing weather and hope they make it."
Gorton added that the use of $100 motel vouchers during nights when the weather is extreme won’t be used this year, as they’re working to shift to a temporary structure.
The crime rate has reportedly dropped during Gorton’s second term, coinciding with the relaunch of One Lexington in 2022. She said the program has been one of the best and smartest things the city has done. Still, she recently joined the fraternity of United States mayors whose cities were attacked by a mass shooter. Mayor Gorton remained quiet in the days and weeks after the incident at Old Richmond Road Baptist Church on July 13,, but she addressed the incident with LEX 18 on Thursday.
“I was horrified. There's this mentality that that doesn't happen in Lexington, Kentucky, and since then many people have said that to me. I’m very sad for the people who lost their lives, the families who were impacted,” Gorton said before praising the response of her city’s first responders amid a “chaotic” situation.
Two officers from Lexington ended the incident and remain on administrative duty pending the result of an independent investigation being conducted by Kentucky State Police.
“We’re left out of that, which is a good thing,” Gorton said when asked if she had received any new information about the investigation.
15 months remain until Election Day 2026, and the mayor is excited about doing this for an additional four years, despite the obvious challenges, and rigorous schedule she keeps. She’s all in on continuing to make the downtown area increasingly vibrant, while working to make Lexington a leader in solar energy, which she feels needs to be a part of the future that works in conjunction with our more traditional energy sources.
“We want to look at how we can do more solar. That is the future,” she said after noting solar energy usage at Lexington’s fire houses. I’ve got the energy to do one more term, so I’d like to do that,” she said.
