Lexington mayor’s race: Real estate agent to start raising money for 2026 race
A Lexington real estate agent who also chairs a city planning board has signaled an interest in running for mayor.
Raquel Carter, owner and principal broker of Guide Realty, filed paperwork April 18 with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance to raise money for the May 2026 mayoral primary, according to documents filed with the agency.
Carter, 51, is the first to file her intent to raise money in the race for mayor of Kentucky’s second-largest city.
“Lexington is at a pivotal moment, and I am committed to leading our city towards a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” Carter said. “My experience in business, community leadership, and public service has prepared me to address the challenges and opportunities facing our city and build a stronger, more inclusive Lexington.”
Carter also serves as the chairperson of the city’s Board of Adjustment, which hears conditional use permits and other city planning issues. She has also served on the Kentucky Real Estate Commission, Lexington Community Land Trust Development Committee and Bluegrass Realtors Government Affairs Committee and other professional and land use groups.
She has also been involved in multiple community and social service organizations including the BMW Academy, SoulFest Week, Robert H. Williams Cultural Center, the University of Kentucky Center of Entrepreneurship Mentor Program and other groups.
She has also received multiple awards including U.S. Small Business Administration Kentucky Women Small Business of the Year in 2024, Commerce Lexington’s 2021 Minority Small Business Award and the Women Leading Kentucky Janet Holloway Pathlighter Award 2023.
She is a graduate of Fayette County Public Schools and Eastern Kentucky University. She is married with two children.
This is Carter’s first race.
Carter was also a former board member of Lexington for Everyone, a pro-development group that successfully lobbied the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council to expand the urban service boundary, or its growth boundary, by more than 2,700 acres in 2023. The group did not disclose its donors and does not have to under city ethics rules.
The council voted overwhelmingly, 10-3, to add new land to the city’s growth boundary in 2023 for the first time since 1996.
Carter has frequently appeared in videos for Lexington for Everyone and has lobbied for more development-friendly rules in Lexington in various opinion pieces in the Herald-Leader.
The mayor’s race is nonpartisan.
Mayor Linda Gorton, who is now in her second term, has not said if she will seek a third and final term. “Mayor Gorton is still considering her options,” according to a spokesperson.
Gorton has long sided with agricultural interests and did not want the council to expand the current boundary in 2023 without a plan to put affordable housing in the new expansion area.
Gorton, a former nurse and vice mayor with decades of experience on the council prior to running for mayor, has proven to be a tricky candidate to beat.
She clobbered former Lexington Councilman David Kloiber in 2022, winning all but one of the city’s precincts, with 71% of the vote despite being outspent two to one.
In 2022, she and Kloiber tied in the one precinct she failed to win.
She also easily bested former Lexington police chief Ronnie Bastin in 2018 for the then-open seat winning with 63% of the vote.
This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM.
