Liz Sheehan

Liz Sheehan is a member of the Lexington City Council in Kentucky, representing District 5. She assumed office on January 4, 2021. Her current term ends on January 4, 2027.

Sheehan ran for re-election to the Lexington City Council to represent District 5 in Kentucky. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Sheehan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Liz Sheehan lives in Lexington, Kentucky. She earned a high school diploma from Manchester High School, a bachelor's degree in psychology from Virginia Tech in 2002, a master's degree in psychology from Emory University in 2004, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Emory University in 2008. Sheehan’s career experience includes working as a lecturer at the University of Kentucky. Her organizational affiliations include the Fayette County Branch of The Women's Network, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Lexington Junior League. She volunteers with the LFUCG Environmental Commission in Lexington, Kentucky, which describes its goal as to, “[enhance] every aspect of the environment for the betterment of the urban county.”^[1]^[2]^[3]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Incumbent Liz Sheehan defeated Meredith Price in the general election for Lexington City Council District 5 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Liz Sheehan (Nonpartisan)	61.1	7,193
	Meredith Price (Nonpartisan)	38.9	4,581

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,774
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Liz Sheehan and Meredith Price advanced from the primary for Lexington City Council District 5.

Endorsements

To view Sheehan's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Sheehan in this election.

2022

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Incumbent Liz Sheehan defeated Greg Ladd in the general election for Lexington City Council District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Liz Sheehan (Nonpartisan)	62.6	5,956
	Submit photo	Greg Ladd (Nonpartisan)	37.4	3,559

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,515
= 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.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lexington City Council District 5

Incumbent Liz Sheehan and Greg Ladd defeated Ami Hillenmeyer in the primary for Lexington City Council District 5 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Liz Sheehan (Nonpartisan)	53.7	3,089
✔	Submit photo	Greg Ladd (Nonpartisan)	26.1	1,502
	Submit photo	Ami Hillenmeyer (Nonpartisan)	20.2	1,159

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,750
= 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.

2020

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Liz Sheehan defeated incumbent Bill Farmer in the general election for Lexington City Council District 5 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Liz Sheehan (Nonpartisan)	50.6	6,455
	Bill Farmer (Nonpartisan)	49.4	6,310

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,765
= 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.

Endorsements

To view Sheehan's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

2018

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Incumbent Bill Farmer defeated Liz Sheehan in the general election for Lexington City Council District 5 on November 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Bill Farmer (Nonpartisan)	53.6	5,623
	Liz Sheehan (Nonpartisan)	46.4	4,865

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,488 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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

2024

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released October 20, 2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Liz Sheehan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Sheehan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Councilmember Liz Sheehan was elected to serve the residents of Lexington, KY’s 5th District in Nov 2020, after defeating a long-term incumbent, and was re-elected in 2022. Since assuming office during the throes of a pandemic, Liz continues to demonstrate she’s a community builder, hard worker, and fearless advocate for her constituents. Her perspective as a researcher, college educator, and working mother guide her approach as a Councilmember. Liz understands the most important job of government is to make sure basic needs are being met. Public safety, housing affordability, food access, and mental and physical health are the most vital parts of a healthy and equitable community. Liz is data-driven, collaborative, and willing to work with anyone that helps move our city forward. She has a proven record of advocating to keep our community safe, housed, fed, and well. She voted to approve a collective bargaining agreement that included many community-driven reforms and pay increases for our public safety officers, helped secure millions of dollars in funding for her neighbors experiencing homelessness, co-sponsored Lexington’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors, invested $2 million in Solarize Lexington, made public input more accessible, and was the catalyst for Lexington’s Complete Streets Action Plan. She remains focused on the day-to-day needs of Lexingtonians while working to bring the community together to build an even better future.

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?

Liz understands the most important job of government is to make sure basic needs are being met in our community. Public safety, housing affordability, food access, and mental and physical health are the most vital parts of a healthy and equitable community.
Liz uses her background as an educator to help keep residents informed and engaged in local government. She works sends out a bi-weekly email newsletter and attends neighborhood meetings. She works with the Chevy Chaser to publish a monthly column called Civic Connections. And, she serves on the council's public input subcommittee that has worked for the last year and half to expand and modernize the options for our community to give feedback to council on the issues they care about most.
With your support, Lexington will continue to benefit from the hard work and leadership that Councilmember Sheehan demonstrated during her two terms in office.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My number one priority is working for the residents of my district. I work hard to respond to requests quickly, whether it is a pothole or someone needing assistance with finding housing resources. When it comes to larger policy, I am committed to addressing the basic needs of our community: housing, safety, food access, and physical and mental health.

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

Being an effective councilmember takes a variety of skills: teamwork, project management, open and honest communication, persistence, preparation, as well as thinking about immediate and long term impacts of policy - all skills I have honed in my profession as a teacher.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Last year, I started a book club for Councilmembers and city staff to focus on reading more books that can contribute to our work in Lexington! We have read a lot of books that I enjoyed, but if I had to pick one from that list, I would choose Homelessness is a Housing Problem. This book was related to policy to addressing the needs of our unhoused community members - but with my research background, I appreciated the evidence-based approach. You can see some of the other books we have read on my instagram page @lizforlex

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Moms Demand Action, LPAC, New Power PAC, LiUNA Local 189, Bluegrass Central Labor Council, Victory Fund, Climate Cabinet, C-Fair, Unite Campus Workers, Vote Mama, Lexington Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 526

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

One of the most important responsibilities of our council is the approval of the budget. Our budget is a reflection of the values of our community - so it should be an open process with community feedback.

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.

2022

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

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Councilmember Liz Sheehan was elected to serve the residents of Lexington, Kentucky’s 5th District in November of 2020. Since assuming office during the throes of a global pandemic, Liz continues to demonstrate she’s a community builder, hard worker, and fearless advocate for her constituents. She remains focused on the day-to-day needs of Lexingtonians while working to bring the community together to build an even better future. Her perspective as a researcher, college educator, and working mother guide her approach as a Councilmember. Liz understands the most important job of government is to make sure basic needs are being met in our community. Public safety, housing affordability, food access, and mental and physical health are the most vital parts of a healthy and equitable community. Liz is data-driven, collaborative, and willing to work with anyone that can help move our city forward. She has a proven record of advocating to keep our community safe, housed, fed, and well; she voted to approve community-driven reforms and pay increases for our public safety officers, helped secure millions of dollars in funding for her neighbors experiencing homelessness, co-sponsored Lexington’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors, and consistently supports public health initiatives.

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?

Liz understands the most important job of government is to make sure basic needs are being met in our community. Public safety, housing affordability, food access, and mental and physical health are the most vital parts of a healthy and equitable community.
With your support, Lexington will continue to benefit from the hard work and leadership that Councilmember Sheehan demonstrated during her first term in office.
She will continue working together to preserve the uniqueness of Lexington while shaping our future.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My number one priority is working for the residents of my district. I work hard to respond to requests quickly, whether it is a pothole or someone needing assistance with a housing stabilization application. When it comes to larger policy, I am committed to addressing the basic needs of our community: housing, safety, food access, and physical and mental health, which I discuss more below.

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.

2020

Liz Sheehan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Sheehan'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.

Dr. Liz Sheehan is running to represent Lexington's 5th District. Her passion for and service to this community led her to run. Currently serving as a faculty member at the University of Kentucky, Liz plans to use her background as an educator to make our city more accessible to the people who live here by finding ways to bring people into the process. Liz is driven by service to others and is never afraid to step up to lead. Whether she's volunteering as her daughter's Girl Scout troop leader or serving as Chair of Lexington Fairness and Vice Chair of the Environmental Commission, Liz comes ready to work towards a better tomorrow. Liz helped spearhead an effort to build a more compassionate city by encouraging acts of service throughout Lexington in a movement called #LexGiveBack, now in its forth year. Building a more inclusive city means planning for the future by looking at every choice we make now. Affordable housing, city infrastructure, and public health are all areas where our community needs leaders looking towards the future. As a forward-thinking leader who welcomes everyone to the table, Liz is ready to shape Lexington's future alongside her community. You can find out more at her website: www.lizforlex.com

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?

Liz is a forward-thinking, data-driven leader that believes government should be accessible to all residents.
She will work tirelessly to make Lexington a safe and equitable community where everyone can thrive, regardless of their zip code or identity.
Her background as a community leader, mother, educator and student advisor at the University of Kentucky informs many of the policy priorities she will advance as a Councilmember.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Meeting basic needs must remain a top priority for the Urban-County Council. Monies are being slashed from our funding of the non-profit sector, the affordable housing trust fund, and services that assist our most vulnerable community members. During these times we should prioritize programs and services that act as a safety net for our community rather than weaken them.

Smart growth and development will continue to be a long-term challenge for Lexington-Fayette County. On average, 30,000 individuals move to Lexington every ten years. Smart growth will require balance. Our agricultural areas are a vital resource to our economy and should continue to be protected as such. In-fill and redevelopment will be my preferred approach when addressing development needs. We should prioritize affordable housing and multi-use spaces when awarding development permits; these tools can also help us eliminate food deserts in minority neighborhoods.

Civic engagement is critical, but the impacts of this crisis highlight just how critical having your voice heard will be as we face a brutal budget process this year (and almost certainly for years to come). I will work hard to help reduce barriers to civic engagement in my community.

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.

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

Liz Sheehan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Sheehan's responses.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

1) Representing the residents of my district 2) meeting the basic needs of everyone within the community. Basic needs are defined as housing, food, safety, a sense of belonging, and physical/mental health. For example, we have a housing shortage, homeless individuals and families, concerns for public safety, and a drug epidemic. In my psychology classes at UK, I teach students that if your basic needs are not being met, then you cannot thrive. If individuals cannot thrive, then neither can our community. We must prioritize these basic needs and overall wellbeing of all of those within our community. 3) promoting accessible, transparent government so that residents can stay informed and engage in issues that are important to them

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

wellbeing and social justice

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.

External links

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Candidate

Lexington City Council District 5

Officeholder

Lexington City Council District 5

Personal

Footnotes

↑ City of Lexington, "Environmental Commission," accessed March 12, 2018
↑ Liz Sheehan, "About Liz," accessed March 12, 2018
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 20, 2024

Political offices
Preceded by Bill Farmer	Lexington City Council District 5 2021-Present	Succeeded by -

[orgbio-1] City of Lexington, "Environmental Commission," accessed March 12, 2018

[bio-2] Liz Sheehan, "About Liz," accessed March 12, 2018

[3] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 20, 2024

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Liz Sheehan

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Nonpartisan primary election

Endorsements

2022

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lexington City Council District 5

2020

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Endorsements

2018

General election

General election for Lexington City Council District 5

Campaign themes

2024

Video for Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia survey responses

2022

2020

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

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Footnotes

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