Teresa Isaac is an American politician who served as mayor of Lexington, Kentucky from 2003 to December 31, 2006.
Isaac was elected to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government council as an At-Large member in 1988. In 1992, she was reelected to the Urban County Council (UCC) becoming the Vice-Mayor. She served in that capacity until 1999. In 1996, Teresa Isaac ran for the Democratic nomination for Kentucky's 6th congressional district. She came in third.
Isaac returned to elected office in 2002 as the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky. [1]
Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Teresa Isaac | 37,516 | 51% |
Scott Crosbie | 35,743 | 49% |
In that race, she defeated attorney Scott Crosbie. Crosbie had previously served on the City Council. Isaac's victory was credited to her tireless campaigning and a light turnout in the suburbs, which represented Crosbie's political base of conservatives.
Her term as mayor was marked with controversy, as her controversial attempts to use eminent domain to condemn the local water company and the Lexington Mall both failed due to public resistance. The Mayor cites the following accomplishments: [2]
However, on November 7, 2006, Vote NO won and condemnation of the water company ended. [3]
In 2006, Isaac ran for reelection but lost to political newcomer and Lexington corporate attorney Jim Newberry. Most recently, Isaac has been employed as a campaign staffer for Kentucky businessman Bruce Lunsford. Lunsford made an unsuccessful attempt to win the Democratic nomination for Kentucky Governor in May 2007. Isaac currently practices law and teaches as an adjunct professor at several Kentucky colleges. She has been a crusader for same sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. She currently is championing the cause of the Green movement and seeks to curtail or end all coal fire burning plants and factories in the United States including Kentucky's own coal industry which says claims is destroying the natural beauty of Kentucky. She said her downfall was the ill-fated forced attempt of the government takeover of the Lexington water company, which ruined her chances at a second term as Mayor of Lexington.[ citation needed ]
Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Jim Newberry | 49,726 | 62.6% |
Teresa Isaac | 29,755 | 37.4% |
Lexington is a consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the second-most populous city in Kentucky, the 14th-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 59th-most populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 30th-largest city.
The 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2007. In this election, incumbent Republican governor Ernie Fletcher ran for reelection to a second term, but was soundly defeated by Democratic challenger Steve Beshear. A primary election to determine the Republican and Democratic nominees for governor was held on May 22, 2007, in which Fletcher and Beshear won their respective primaries. Steve Beshear's son Andy was elected Kentucky's State Attorney General in 2015 and Kentucky's Governor in 2019 and 2023.
John William Conway is an American lawyer and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, Conway served as the 49th attorney general of Kentucky from January 7, 2008, to January 4, 2016. Prior to his election as attorney general, he was the nominee for Kentucky's 3rd congressional district in the 2002 elections, narrowly losing to Republican incumbent Anne Northup.
The Lexington History Center once housed several independent history museums in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. It was located in the former Fayette County Courthouse until 2012 when the city closed the building for renovation. Prior to the closing of the building, the Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum moved to a new location on Georgetown Street. The building has since been renovated into a multi-use commercial, tourist, office and event center.
Brenda Denise Cowan was Lexington, Kentucky's first black female firefighter. According to Women in the Fire Service, Lieutenant Cowan is the first black female career firefighter ever to die in the line of duty. She had served with the Lexington Fire Department for twelve years. Cowan was the sister of Fred Cowan, a member of University of Kentucky's 1978 national championship basketball team.
Pam Miller served as the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky from 1993 to 2003. On January 3, 1993, she became Lexington's first woman mayor. She was first elected to the Urban County Council in 1973 and was the first woman elected to public office in the city. She served from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1993. She served as vice-mayor before becoming mayor after the resignation of Scotty Baesler, who was elected to the United States Congress in 1992. She was elected mayor in 1994 and again in 1998, though she chose not to run for a third full term in 2002.
Man o' War Boulevard, named after the racehorse Man o' War, is an almost 17-mile (27 km) urban arterial, circling Lexington, Kentucky to its south. Its western terminus is at US 60 / Keeneland Boulevard at Keeneland Race Course's main entrance, from which the highway heads southeast, intersecting with US 68, US 27, and other roads. It then turns east and northeast, intersecting KY 1974, US 25/US 421, and I-75, before ending at US 60 at Brighton. The majority of the road is a four-lane divided highway with curbs and sidewalks maintained by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, but the 1.429-mile (2.300 km) portion east of I-75 is maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet as Supplemental Road Kentucky Route 1425, and only carries two lanes.
Jim Newberry was mayor of Lexington, Kentucky from December 31, 2006, until January 2, 2011. He defeated incumbent mayor Teresa Isaac by the largest vote margin in the history of Lexington-Fayette's merged "Urban County" government. This was also the first time in Lexington-Fayette history that a challenger had defeated a sitting mayor.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 4, 2008. Minority Leader and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell won re-election to a fifth term. Although Barack Obama lost Kentucky by a 16.22% margin to John McCain in the concurrent presidential election, McConnell more narrowly kept his seat with a 5.94% margin against businessman Bruce Lunsford. This was a greatly reduced margin from when he won re-election in 2002 with a 29.4% margin.
The 2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held to elect the Governor of Kentucky on November 4, 2003. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 32 years.
Steven Lynn Beshear is an American attorney and politician who served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th attorney general from 1980 to 1983 and was the 49th lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1987.
James P. Gray II is an American politician who is the Kentucky Secretary of Transportation in the administration of Governor Andy Beshear. He is the former two-term mayor of Lexington, Kentucky. Gray served as the city's vice-mayor from 2006 to 2010 before being elected mayor in November 2010. Gray won re-election to another four-year term on November 4, 2014. In 2016, he ran for the United States Senate seat held by U.S. Senator Rand Paul. Gray won the May 17 Democratic primary with nearly 60% of the vote, becoming the first openly gay man to win the U.S. Senate nomination of a major political party. Gray lost the November 8 general election to Paul.
The state of Kentucky elected a Treasurer November 8, 2011. Primaries for this election were held on Tuesday May 17, 2011. The Kentucky Treasurer is elected every 4 years. The treasurer, who can serve two terms, acts as the state's chief elected fiscal officer. Incumbent Todd Hollenbach defeated his two challengers.
The following is a timeline of the history of Lexington, Kentucky, United States.
The 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2015. Incumbent Democratic governor Steve Beshear was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits. Primary elections were held on May 19, 2015.
Douglass School in Lexington, Kentucky, US, was both a primary and secondary Fayette County Public Schools from 1929 to 1971. Douglass School operated solely for African American students. The building that once housed Douglass School, located at 465 Price Road, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County in 1998.
Cadentown School in Lexington, Kentucky was a primary public school for black children in the segregated Fayette County Public Schools from about 1879 to 1922. The building that originally housed Cadentown School, located at 705 Caden Lane, is no longer extant. However, the Rosenwald Fund School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Kentucky on November 3, 2015. All of Kentucky's executive officers were up for election. Primary elections were held on May 19, 2015.
The 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2019, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Kentucky. The Democratic nominee, Andy Beshear, defeated Republican Incumbent governor Matt Bevin. It was the closest gubernatorial election by votes since 1899. It was the closest race of the 2019 gubernatorial election cycle.
The 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2023, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Kentucky. Incumbent Democratic governor Andy Beshear won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron. If Cameron had won, he would have become Kentucky's first African-American governor.