Linda Gorton cruises to victory over Ronnie Bastin in Lexington mayoral election

For the third time since 1974, Fayette County voters chose a woman to lead Kentucky’s second-largest city.

Linda Gorton, 70, defeated Ronnie Bastin, a former Lexington police chief and public safety commissioner, in a landslide victory.

Gorton received 63 percent of the vote Tuesday, compared to 37 percent for Bastin. She beat him by 27,115 votes.

Gorton’s win was no surprise. The city’s longest-serving councilwoman received 42 percent of the vote in the seven-way mayoral primary on May 22. Bastin, a first-time candidate, came in second with 25 percent.

A retired nurse, Gorton was vice mayor for four years and spent a total of 16 years on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council before retiring in 2014. She is a mother of two and grandmother of four.

Bastin called Linda Gorton shortly after 7 p.m. to concede the race.

“He congratulated me and said he would be willing to help anyway he could,” Gorton said at her victory party in the former Fayette County courthouse on Main Street.

Gorton said she was humbled by her decisive win on Tuesday but told her supporters the win was about “what we did together,” Gorton said. “The numbers are more than I expected.”

Gorton said late Tuesday that dealing with the opioid abuse epidemic will be among her first priorities.

She also pledged to meet with council members to find a “way forward” on a new city hall for Lexington. The council voted narrowly in September not to move forward with a public-private partnership that would have allowed the city to lease the current Herald-Leader building on Midland and Main streets for $5.1 million a year.

Gorton said the campaign showed her that Lexington residents “want good, planned growth. They don’t want sprawl.”

She vowed to continue the city’s focus on infill and redevelopment rather than expanding the Urban Services Boundary anytime soon.

Pam Miller and Teresa Isaac are the other two women who have been Lexington mayor. Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city, has never elected a woman mayor.

After conceding the race, Bastin thanked his supporters and said he will continue to work for the city he spent more than 30 years serving as a police officer and public safety commissioner.

“Though we did not come out on top tonight, I am so proud of the race we ran,” Bastin said. “I will continue to work hard for the people of Lexington in any way I can.”

Bastin and Gorton agreed on many issues during the campaign. They both said they support keeping the current growth boundary and continuing the county’s farmland preservation program. Both said tackling opioid addiction was a top priority. Both pledged to do more to encourage more infill and redevelopment and pledged to use better technology to tackle Lexington’s traffic backups. Both touted their years of experience in government as proof they were ready to manage the city’s more than $370 million budget.

The two candidates, though, sparred over endorsements and campaign advertisements in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election.

Bastin touted his many endorsements, including from unions representing police, fire, teachers and public employees. But Gorton questioned why a national real estate political action committee was paying for mailers backing Bastin if he truly supports keeping Lexington’s current growth boundary.

Then late last week, Bastin sent a mailer to Fayette County residents touting that he “was the only Democrat” in the race. Gorton, a registered Republican, said the mailer was out of bounds. The charter of the merged government stipulates that all races are nonpartisan.

“It’s very disrespectful of the (city’s) charter,” Gorton said.

Bastin said he sent the mailers because people repeatedly had asked him about his political affiliation.

Voter registration data shows Fayette County leans heavily Democratic — 52 percent of voters are registered Democrats and 37 percent are registered Republicans.

Gorton is the first registered Republican to win the office since the merged government began in 1974. The position pays $146,602.

Mayor

• Linda Gorton 67,480
• Ronnie Bastin 40,365

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 7:03 PM.