Primary voters in Paducah denied their young, unabashedly progressive mayor a crack at a second four-year term.
But two veteran civil rights leaders say Brandi Harless will be missed as a champion of equality in westernmost Kentucky’s largest city.
“She’s tried to reach across racial lines,” said J.W. Cleary, Paducah-McCracken County NAACP president. “She believes in inclusion. She’s made a difference.”
Chris Hartman agrees. “Mayor Harless has ushered in a new era for Paducah and has put her city on the cutting edge of civil rights in Kentucky,” said the Louisville-based Kentucky Fairness Campaign director.
From the start, Harless refused to play it politically safe. Paducah is the hub of the Jackson Purchase, definitely Trump country, and arguably the most conservative corner of the Bluegrass State. Despite stout opposition from evangelicals and other conservatives, Harless took up the fight for a fairness ordinance to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ persons.
“I can’t overstate how necessary Mayor Harless’s leadership was in passing the fairness ordinance,” Hartman said. “Paducah was among the first ten cities [in the state] to enact protections for LGBTQ.” (Paducah was the ninth city.)
Also, Harless bucked the local Sons of Confederate Veterans (during the Civil War, Paducah was one of the state’s most pro-Southern towns) and got the city commission to bar Confederate flags in the city’s Veterans Day parade.
Her support for the fairness ordinance, the flag ban, and a controversial indoor recreation and aquatic center, evidently were the biggest factors in her last-place finish in Paducah’s three-way, non-partisan primary.
Businessman George Bray, a political newcomer, won with 2,992 votes to 1,851 for longtime City Commissioner Richard Abraham, and 1,581 for Harless. Abraham, the only African American on the city commission, was also the only commissioner to oppose the fairness ordinance and the flag ban.
“Brandi was on the edge of making some real changes in Paducah,” Cleary said, adding that Harless has been a regular at major NAACP functions. “She makes everybody feel like they are a part of the community.”
Cleary said Harless also oversaw infrastructure improvements — repairing roads and sidewalks — in less-well-heeled sections of the city, including historically African American neighborhoods. “But what happens in life is that when you try to include everybody, you sometimes get the wrong end of the stick.”
Added Hartman: “I was so incredibly impressed with Mayor Harless. I have sat in city halls across Kentucky and in more places where we have lost fairness ordinances than we have won. But I have not seen any mayor manage the process as swiftly, as strongly, and as well as Mayor Harless did. She was no-nonsense. She let people’s voices be heard. There was plenty of time for public input and comment.
“From the perspective of managing a controversial process for the city, she was second to none among the mayors I’ve seen across the commonwealth. It’s going to be extremely sad to see her go. I think her legacy will be felt forever in the community, and I’m proud to have known her and call her a friend.”
Harless’ term expires in December.
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