Terra Long, an aide to Louisville Metro Councilman Tom Owen, has announced she will run for her boss' seat next year.
Owen, a local historian and longtime local lawmaker, announced last week he would not seek re-election next year. Long said she filed a letter of intent to run for the District 8 seat, which includes the Highlands.
“I’ve always enjoyed public service, and I’ve done it for years,” she said on Thursday.
Long, who holds a degree from the University of Louisville, was a Louisville police officer for 20 years. She said she has experience working to solve community-level issues.
Long, a Democrat and native of the Highlands, said after two decades working in law enforcement, she wanted move on to lawmaking. For the past eight years, Long has worked as an aide to Owen.
“The next step is, I thought, ‘Well, why don’t you be the council person of the district that you live in and work in and raised your child in and family lives in?’” she said.
Long said she has a “public service passion and wants to be in the driver’s seat.”
If elected, Long said she wants to work on creating a mobile office so that she could have more of a presence in the district, and she wants to work on land development code issues.
The filing deadline to run for the seat is in January. Democrat and community activist William Corey Nett was the first candidate to file for the seat. Lynnie Meyer, a local health care executive, has also filed to run a Democrat for the seat, The Courier-Journal reported.
Owen was first elected to represent the Highlands area on Louisville's legislative body in 1990.
This story has been updated to clarify Long's role with Louisville police.