It’s official: Lexington Mayor Gorton will face three challengers in May primary

First-term Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton will face three challengers in the May 17 primary.

Tuesday was the filing deadline for the mayoral and city government races.

The three candidates who have previously filed to run against Gorton prior to Tuesday include: David Kloiber, a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman who has served on council since 2020; Adrian Wallace, a nonprofit executive and former NAACP president, and William Weyman, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2018.

Gorton, who spent 16 years on the council the last four as vice mayor prior to running for mayor in 2018, has the clear lead in terms of name recognition and fundraising, according to Kentucky Registry of Election Finance reports.

Gorton has raised just shy of $100,000 with $97,502.64 raised as of Dec. 31, according to campaign finance reports. Kloiber, who announced his candidacy in December, raised $26,301.00, according to campaign finance reports. Wallace announced his campaign in early January and has not yet filed a report. Nor has Weyman.

The registered nurse announced in August she would seek re-election after spending much of her first term managing the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fall out. Gorton’s first term was also tested by weeks of protests in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the police-involved killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The city has also seen a spike in homicides over the past two years. Last year’s homicides —37—set a new record.

Walllace has been the most vocal critic of Gorton. Wallace said Gorton needs to do more to address skyrocketing murder rates and invest more in violence prevention.

Gorton has countered she has upped investment in the city’s One Lexington program, which helps curtail youth and gun violence. All large cities are struggling with higher than pre-pandemic homicide rates. Overall, violent crime in Lexington is down, Gorton has said.

Wallace has also criticized Gorton for not doing enough to address affordable housing, homelessness and supporting nonprofits that serve those populations.

Gorton said she, with the help of the council, has upped investment in the city’s affordable housing program, giving $10 million from federal coronavirus relief funds to the program. The city has invested a total of $58 million in homeless prevention and intervention programs -- a combination of federal eviction prevention funding, coronavirus relief funding and city funds -- since the March 2020, when the pandemic began.

A pending lawsuit challenging the newly redrawn state legislative House maps could trigger legislation that could push the primary back to August. No action has been taken on that legislation.