Twenty-eight people applied to replace former Louisville Metro Council Members David James and Keisha Dorsey, according to records released by the Council Clerk on Wednesday.
James and Dorsey, both Democrats, resigned from Metro Council earlier this month to take senior positions in Mayor Craig Greenberg’s new administration. Eight residents submitted their resumes to replace Dorsey in District 3, which covers the city of Shively. The other twenty candidates want to fill James’ seat in District 6, representing parts of the Old Louisville, Park Hill and Shelby Park neighborhoods.
Under state law, the remaining 24 Metro Council members must select two individuals to fill those vacancies by a majority vote on Feb. 2. They’ll conduct public interviews for District 3 on Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. Candidates for the District 6 seat will be interviewed on Jan. 31 at 4:30 p.m. The meetings will be broadcast live on MetroTV (channel 184 on Spectrum and channel 99 on UVERSE) or on Metro Council’s website.
Whoever is chosen to replace Dorsey and James will represent Districts 3 and 6 until a special election in November.
Some Metro Council members, like District 4 Democrat Jecorey Arthur, argue the current process for filling vacancies by appointment is anti-Democratic.
"We pay for investigations. We pay for nonprofit projects. We pay for plenty of things," Arthur recently told the Courier-Journal. "I think us paying for democracy should be a standard for the Metro Council because that's how a majority of us got to our offices."
In the past, some Council members have also been hesitant about appearing to influence a future election by appointing someone to a vacancy who plans to campaign for that seat.
When former District 1 representative Jessica Green resigned last year to become a judge on the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Metro Council members chose Angela Bowens as her temporary replacement. They asked candidates during interviews whether they planned to run in the upcoming election, and Bowens indicated she did not. Democrat Tammy Hawkins ran unopposed and won the District 1 seat in last November’s election.
The eight people who applied to fill the District 3 vacancy are:
- Shameka Parrish-Wright, an activist and former Democratic candidate for Louisville mayor
- Gibran Crook, a youth basketball coach who ran unsuccessfully for the District 3 seat last year
- Andrew Branton, a small business owner and organizer with the Louisville Public Defenders Union
- Henrietta Jenkins, an elected Justice of the Peace and grant contract coordinator with Louisville Metro’s Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods
- Jared Randall, former Pleasure Ridge Park High School track coach
- Cassandra Colo'n, a caregiver, comedy act promoter and former candidate for Metro Council’s District 15 seat
- Kumar Rashad, an alcoholic beverage control officer administrator for the city of Shively and board member of the Kentucky Education Association
- Trashaun “Shaun” Spencer, a human resources professional
The 20 candidates for the District 6 seat are:
- Kate Dittmeier Holm, a lawyer and member of Emerge Kentucky’s 2023 class
- James “Trey” Broaddus, a UPS employee and member of Streets for People
- Stephen Peterson, a pharmacy benefits manager and member of the Limerick Architectural Review Commission
- Christopher Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign
- Logan Gatti, director of Health Enterprises Network
- Derrick Pedolzky, founder of ReWorked Designs and president of the Limerick Neighborhood Association
- Allison Scott Pruitt, housing and community development specialist with Cloudburst Consulting Group
- Christa Wiley, project manager and treasurer of Friends of the Library, Main Branch
- Bruce Sherrod, a disabled veteran and community consultant for the Park Hill/Algonquin Community of Opportunity Advisory Board
- Rev. Robert L. Moore, chaplain at Goodwill Industries of Kentucky and community pastor for One Church Louisville
- Phillip T. Baker, a family resource coordinator with Jefferson County Public Schools and Kentucky Derby Festival board member
- Eric J. Cooper, director of communications for the Independent Pilots Association and secretary of the 4th Street Neighborhood Association
- Alexandria N. Muckler, assistant director of admissions at the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law
- John Michael Murner, geospatial software developer and board member of Louisville Country Dancers
- Rolf Friis, former campaign advisor for Geoff Young for Congress
- Keith Joy, owner of Derby City Brew Tours
- Dr. Olivia Kelley, Director of Flaget Pain Medicine in Bardstown, Kentucky
- Jamie Fairman, owner of Forage florist shop
- Garrett Dean, licensed engineer and U.S. Army veteran
- John Gonder, former New Albany City Council member
Metro Council may soon have to deal with a third vacancy, too. District 8 Council Member Cassie Chambers Armstrong was selected by local Democratic Party officials as their nominee to replace former state Sen. Morgan McGarvey who is now in the U.S. House of Representatives. She’ll face off against Republican Misty Glin in a special election on Feb. 21.
If Chambers Armstrong is successful, it would leave the Highlands area without Metro Council representation while another application and interview process takes place.
