Colin Hardin

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Colin Hardin

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 17, 2022

Personal

Birthplace

Lexington, Ky.

Religion

Agnostic

Profession

Server and bartender

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Colin Hardin (Democratic Party) ran for election for Mayor of Louisville in Kentucky. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

Hardin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Colin Hardin was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His career experience includes working as a server and bartender.

Elections

2022

See also: Mayoral election in Louisville, Kentucky (2022)

General election

General election for Mayor of Louisville

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Louisville on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Craig Greenberg (D)	51.7	143,779
		William Dieruf (R)	46.3	128,690
		Martina Nichols Kunnecke (Independent)	0.6	1,689
	Submit photo	Isaac Marion Thacker IV (Socialist Workers Party)	0.4	1,215
	Submit photo	Taylor Everett (Independent)	0.2	584
	Submit photo	Manetta Lemkheitir (Independent)	0.2	493
	Submit photo	David Ellenberger (Independent)	0.2	448
	Submit photo	Robert Eberenz (Independent)	0.1	265
	Submit photo	John Mace (Independent)	0.1	259
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	431

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 277,853
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Mayor of Louisville

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Mayor of Louisville on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Craig Greenberg	41.3	35,341
		Shameka Parrish-Wright	21.6	18,493
	Submit photo	David Nicholson	17.1	14,631
		Timothy Findley Jr.	15.5	13,245
	Submit photo	Sergio Lopez	1.6	1,359
		Colin Hardin	1.3	1,104
	Submit photo	Skylar Graudick	1.2	1,067
	Submit photo	Anthony Oxendine	0.4	380

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 85,620
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mayor of Louisville

William Dieruf defeated Chartrael Hall, Rob Reishman Jr., and Philip Molestina in the Republican primary for Mayor of Louisville on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		William Dieruf	78.2	30,088
	Submit photo	Chartrael Hall	11.2	4,291
		Rob Reishman Jr.	5.7	2,190
	Submit photo	Philip Molestina	5.0	1,905

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 38,474
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Colin Hardin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hardin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a 33 year old half-black half-white man who has worked in the restaurant industry for the last 10 years. Customer service and the joy of taking care of other people has inspired myself up to this point, but my desire for greater service to my community has led me on this journey. I live by a code of service, the traditional idea of Bushido, that calls for trust, respect, and duty to the community. I refuse to compromise on my authenticity seeing it as a betrayal of this moral code, and I believe that if anyone should be elected mayor of Louisville they should win as themselves rather than as a fake persona. Personal responsibility is one of the most important ideas to me. I believe that we all have a role to play in our community, and if Louisville fails then I did too. I want to lend a hand to everyone in our city, giving each and every single person from Fairdale to Portland to Prospect and Jeffersontown an opportunity to pull themselves into a world of prosperity. I believe that the best times are coming if we can work together and make Louisville great.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am authentic and unapologetically myself, I will always stand up for what I believe is right and will never go beyond my morals.
• I am a working class man, I know the struggles that the common people in Louisville have because I experience it everyday. I will bring those experiences to the forefront of this city's leadership.
• We need practical innovative ideas, other people may talk about new giant projects to save this city, but we cannot even fix our roads without construction being backed up for months. We need simple solutions, and I intend to provide them.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about a new Louisville Economic Renaissance. We need a Basic Income Trial in the city to test to see if giving money to people will help save and uplift lives, we need a public bank to avoid predatory loans and provide coverage to everyone. We need to uplift our people rather than favor corporations.

We need increased gun training for all citizens if we are ever to counter this fear of guns. We need mental health treatment to lower gun deaths, up to 60% of all gun deaths are from suicides.

We need to legalize marijuana and mushrooms, they're natural substances and shouldn't be restricted because our leaders want to lock up people because they want to get high. We need to change police culture and welcome whistleblowers who will help make our police actually protect and serve. We need to combat human trafficking and modern day slavery, major issues not just across the world but in Louisville too.

We need to greenify this city, increase tree coverage and fight to reduce pollen. We need to encourage new sources of reliable and sustainable energy sources. We need to have true recycling in this city rather than letting everything go to waste.

Most importantly, we need to inspire people to care again. Too many people are apathetic and angry, we need to focus that into real change. A better way is possible for Louisville, but we need to be a community to get that done.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official needs to understand what their job is, it isn't to get into office as a career, it isn't to make a lot of money while in office. It certainly isn't to get a lot of followers on Twitter or even "ratio" the people of the other party as some fake activist message. It is to make the laws and get out there and enact them. If our Mayor only goes to rich parties and events, or our elected officials only sit in their offices all day looking over the work that their interns are doing, then they are not doing the job we elected them to do. Our elected officials need to be willing to do the hard stuff, go out there and do the work they expect all of us to do. I will never ask anyone to do something that I wouldn't be willing to do myself, and that should be the principle that our elected officials have.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to inspire others to become leaders for their community and to speak their minds without fear. We need to fix this country and save the planet and humanity from doom. My legacy is to just see this country survive the turmoil that we are going through, but I would want to see it thrive even more if I can.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I have always been in the service industry. I have been everything from a host to a busser to a server and bartender. I am still am even while running for office. I have always enjoyed serving people, going the extra mile to provide an excellent service to people. I am proud of that and my history as a working class man for my entire life. I have swapped between several restaurants throughout my career, and that allows me to see more of the industry and the hard work that comes with it.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Psychomech Trilogy is probably the best few I have read recently because it combines all of my favorite genres into one giant trilogy. It is dark and dramatic while making me feel like I can be stronger than I am, it is inspiring in a way, which is the best that I can hope a book to make me feel.

Although, as a far reaching one, I would also have to go with the classic Lord of the Rings because you cannot go wrong with one of the best stories ever written.

A mayor is a leader in his or her city. What does that mean to you?

A mayor is both a leader and a servant. Public servant has servitude in the name, which means that any leader of this city should either be from the common roots of the people they mean to represent, or live among them while in office. Many of the people who get into these positions of power see themselves as above everyone else, like they know what everyone needs even though they will never feel the struggle of being homeless or starving while in that seat. I have pledged to donate up to half of my salary while in office to bring me to the median salary in Louisville because to me being a leader means sacrifice. It means being willing to put yourself in the people's shoes even if that means you won't have everything you want.

If the mayor in your city is not a member of the city council and oversees the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor and city council?

The Mayor and the city council need to work together to make a city strong and productive. The relationship needs to be warm, but if either one of them are too weak then the city will falter. There needs to be a strong balance of power when it comes to this relationship, both need to be fighting for the people because an echo chamber will only hurt the people that these organizations should be representing. The city council should fight for what they believe the mayor needs to do more of, and the mayor should make that day-to-day administration of the city more transparent to the people. We cannot have this echo chamber of our leaders any longer.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?

Louisville needs to stand up to Frankfort, we need to fight for what the people of this city needs to the state. If I am elected mayor then I will lobby Frankfort every day if I have to in order to make sure that Louisville and Jefferson County get what they need to thrive. I will gather whoever is willing and we will drive up there on TARC busses to do it all together. We cannot be subservient to the whims of people who have never met us, and I will not allow that to happen under my watch.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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