Gorton elected Lexington vice mayor; Ellinger, Kay on council at-large

Linda Gorton slipped past Chuck Ellinger II to claim victory on Tuesday and become Lexington's next vice mayor.

It was a flip of what happened in the primary when Ellinger garnered the most votes. Gorton will join Ellinger and Steve Kay, who finished second and third respectively, as at-large members of the Urban County Council that takes office in January.

Gorton, Ellinger and Kay were the top three candidates among six finalists who came out of the May primary.

Trailing them in the general election were Kathy Plomin, George Brown and Don Pratt.

Under the Urban County Charter, the top three candidates in the at-large race are elected, with the top vote-getter becoming vice mayor.

Gorton, 61, a registered nurse, led the at-large field. Speaking from her election party at the Bodley-Bullock House, Gorton said she had been nervous about the election, so she baked 300 chocolate-chip cookies Tuesday for the party.

She credited grass-roots support for her win.

"A lot of people know I work hard. They know I don't bring preconceived ideas to the table when we deal with new issues."

She said "people appreciate that I'm fair and I will look into an issue thoroughly."

She works as a nurse in a doctor's office one day a week, and she hopes to be able to continue "a bit of my nursing job without jeopardizing my job as vice mayor."

Ellinger, 46, an attorney, said Tuesday night he had just seen vote totals giving Gorton the vice mayor's job. "She won," he said. "We won, too. So yea."

Ellinger won his third term as an at-large council member.

"We're excited. We're happy for the privilege to serve the citizens of Fayette County again," he said.

Ellinger called his election "a job review."

"It pleases me that voters gave me four more years to work for them," he said.

But it will be a tough four years, Ellinger said. "It looks like the economy will still be weak. It's going to be tough sledding."

Three terms is the maximum for a council-at-large member. Asked if he might run for mayor in 2014, Ellinger chuckled. "I just found out we won this election. I can't grasp that yet."

Ellinger said he was looking forward to working with Mayor-elect Jim Gray. "I'm getting ready to go down (to Busters) and congratulate him," he said.

Kay, 67, who fell short in his first two tries for council at large, said the third time was the charm because this campaign built on the two previous ones.

"I'm thrilled. I've been working on this for a long time, and so have a lot of people who are here helping me celebrate," Kay said from Natasha's café.

Kay said he learned a lot about campaigning from his earlier races.

"We used media well this time. We walked the neighborhoods," he said. "We did all the things a campaign does, but we did more of it — with more supporters, more volunteers."

An organizational consultant, Kay was the top fundraiser with $58,000. This came from 460 individuals in the primary and general election making donations.

His skills as a facilitator and organizational expert will be helpful, both in dealing with other council members and the new mayor, Kay said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Gorton elected Lexington vice mayor; Ellinger, Kay on council at-large."