Thomas Pinkerton

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

Thomas Pinkerton

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Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Graduate

University of Kentucky, 2012

Personal

Birthplace

Jacksonville, Ill.

Profession

Information technology

Thomas Pinkerton ran for election for an at-large seat of the Soil and Water Conservation District Board in Kentucky. She lost as a write-in in the general election on November 5, 2024.

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

Elections

2024

See also: City elections in Lexington, Kentucky (2024)

General election

General election for Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation District Board (4 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation District Board on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Lynne Roche-Phillips (Nonpartisan)	51.6	60,907
✔	Submit photo	Barbara Bentley (Nonpartisan)	44.6	52,693
✔	Submit photo	Ellen Harding (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	1.0	1,219
✔		Perry Gibson (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.8	985
		Allen Carter (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.7	869
	Submit photo	Thomas Pinkerton (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.7	845
	Submit photo	Jeremy Faulk (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.5	627

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 118,145
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Pinkerton in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Thomas Pinkerton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pinkerton'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.

I moved to Lexington in 2009 for grad school, earning a Master's in Library Science. Since 2014, I've been employed at UK's Center for Applied Energy Research. I came out as transgender in 2023 - the same year I joined UK's staff senate and the LGBT+ employee advocacy group. My friends, family, and coworkers call me Tessa!

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?

• Expanding outreach to neighborhood associations, so that residents can take advantage of our programs
• Focusing our message to some of the most vulnerable areas of the state, so that residents who need help with food insecurity, for example, can get it
• Adding in further community partnerships with other conservation-focused businesses, i.e. local greenhouses for our tree giveaways

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Food and housing security, natural conservation, student success, and diversity engagement

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

Self-disinterest. We're civil servants first and foremost, so our job should be to serve the needs of the entire community, not just our own. If a program won't directly benefit me, or my neighborhood, that doesn't mean I won't vigorously defend it: the common good should trump my personal interest.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Ensuring the proper disbursement of funds that have been levied is, honestly, the number one duty. We've been allotted taxpayer dollars, and we should treat that duty with the respect it deserves. After that, our job should be to get out the word to as many people that can about the services we offer. Ideally? We'd get more applications for backyard conservation projects, soil samples, and scholarships than we can give out. We need more community engagement in conservation issues, so we should be champions for that.

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

During high school, I worked at a neighborhood Dairy Queen for a year. I left it to focus on my last year of studies.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Generational poverty. We didn't have much growing up, and the first years of my married life were also a struggle. It's been thanks to the kindness of friends and family, as well as a wonderful mentor taking a chance on me as a temp employee to finally turn that around. I have to also give thanks to our social safety net. Some months, food stamps and LIHEAP were what got us through, and the system absolutely did what it was built to for us. We got some help, then got back on our feet.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

The more the better, however I think it's important for those providing the transparency to also provide context. A line item might sound meaningless as a single sound bite, but have an oversized impact of good on the whole. We need more than a simple spreadsheet of projects and expenditures, we need the whole picture.

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.

See also

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