Longtime Fayette County sheriff faces retired Lexington police officer in election

After defeating Thomas “Tucker” Bulleit during May’s primary election, Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt will compete for re-election in this November’s General Election against Christopher Holliday.

Witt, the Democratic candidate in the race for the sheriff’s office, received 85% of the 28,600 votes cast in May to win the primary election. She was first elected as sheriff in 1998 and has served in the position ever since.

“I’m very thankful for the strong support this community has shown me this election and just over the years,” Witt said. “It just means the world to me to have the trust and support for so many in our community.”

Holliday was the only Republican running for sheriff. He is a retired Lexington police officer who said he believes there is a false narrative surrounding law enforcement agencies that he wants to fix. He also said he wants to implement more effective strategies.

“I saw that there’s just a lack of strategy that is effective and the things that people believe or say about the police or the vilification of the police really motivated me to get back into it,” Holliday said about his desire to run for office.

Holliday retired from the Lexington Police Department in 2020. He said he had plans to leave law enforcement and pursue another career, but those plans were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. He currently works as a police officer for a railroad company.

Holliday never envisioned running for office when he retired, but he said he felt the need to run after seeing a decline in trust of police.

“It was disturbing to me the narrative that people put out about how police officers operate based upon one or two controversial encounters with the police,” Holliday said.

If elected, Holliday said he would like deputies to spend more time patrolling the roads versus assisting with court procedures.

“We need all hands on deck to handle these situations, even to the extent that you have a homicide or a shooting, I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with sheriff’s deputies going out and helping with those investigations,” Holliday said.

During her 24-year tenure as sheriff, Witt said she’s started several programs and initiatives in an attempt to better the community. One that she’s most proud of is the Amanda Center, a 24-hour point of contact for domestic violence victims.

Witt said she’d like to advance the programs she’s started if re-elected. She also wants to rebuild trust between the community and law enforcement. She thinks it’s a relationship that benefits everyone.

“People have different needs in our community and for law enforcement, it is that ‘serve and protect’ philosophy that still continues today, but you got to be really community policing driven,” Witt said.

Witt said she thinks it’s important to prioritize mental and physical health within her department because officers deal with gruesome scenarios.

“In our profession and lots of other professions, we’ve seen the worst of the worst. It’s okay to not be okay,” Witt said.

Kathy Witt

Previous work experience: Fayette County sheriff since 1998, has spent entire career with the sheriff’s office since 1985.

Any offices currently or previously held: Fayette County sheriff, Federal Bureau of Investigation CJIS Advisory Policy Board chair, Federal Bureau of Investigation CJIS Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Task Force chair.

Family: Two children, Morgan and Lucas; three grandchildren; husband, Elmer.

Christopher Holliday

Previous work experience: Railroad police officer, retired Lexington police officer, armed response officer for a nuclear power plant.

Any offices currently or previously held: None.

Family: Married for 22 years, has three kids.

This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 11:00 AM.

Christopher Leach

Lexington Herald-Leader

Chris Leach is a breaking news reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the newspaper in September 2021 after previously working with the Anderson News and the Cats Pause. Chris graduated from UK in December 2018. Support my work with a digital subscription