Lexington Councilwoman Amanda Mays Bledsoe running for open state Senate seat
A longtime Lexington councilwoman and chair of the council budget committee has announced she will seek an open state Senate seat.
Amanda Mays Bledsoe, who has been on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council since 2014, announced Thursday she will run for the seat currently held by state Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington. Kerr announced in July she will not seek re-election.
Kerr has held the Senate District 12 seat, which includes much of Fayette County, for 23 years.
“Lexington is the epicenter of central Kentucky,” said Bledsoe via a post on Facebook. “I understand the complexities at play and have demonstrated my ability to get things done for the community I love. My experience on the city council has taught me that strong solutions come about by listening to our community members and acting boldly on their behalf. I am ready to take our local voices to Frankfort and lend my experience in the Senate.”
Bledsoe, a Republican, has chaired the council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee for several years and has a key role in crafting the city’s budget. Bledsoe represents the 10th Council District’s neighborhoods in south Lexington, including the Beaumont area and areas off of Harrodsburg Road.
Bledsoe’s announcement that she is running for the state Senate means she cannot run for the 10th Council District seat next year.
Before being elected to the council, Bledsoe served as a senior analyst with the Council of State Governments, headquartered in Lexington. She received her bachelor’s degree from Hillsdale College in Michigan and received a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
Andrew Cooperrider, the owner of Brewed coffee shop in Lexington and one of the four men who filed a petition to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear over COVID-19 restrictions, has also announced his candidacy for the seat. Cooperrider has been an avid critic of Beshear’s efforts — including reducing capacity at restaurants and bars — to curb the spread of the virus at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The effort to impeach Beshear failed.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 11:58 AM.
