Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2024 - JP Lyninger, Louisville, KY Metro Council District 6

Today we are continuing our profiles of candidates across the country who want to bring progressive change to America at all levels of government!

In the upcoming May 21 primary in the Metro Council District 6 race in Louisville, KY, Jejune is profiling JP Lyninger (he/him/his). JP is running as a Democratic Socialist for the seat, after several years organizing with the Democratic Socialists of America at both the local and national levels. In 2022 he managed fellow Democratic Socialist Robert Levertis Bell’s run for State Representative and co-managed Kentucky Access for All’s campaign to defeat a state constitutional ban on abortion, contacting every voter in the state regardless of voter ID to explain that abortion bans harm the working class regardless of whether they identify as Democrats or Republicans. This year, JP has personally knocked on over 6000 doors for his campaign, and has made it his goal to talk to every voter in District 6 by election day.

Where are you based?
Louisville, KY.

What is your position/what position are you running for?
Louisville Metro Council District 6.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
I am running to reorient towards meeting the needs of working people. That means fully funding public transit, libraries, community centers, public infrastructure, and social programs. I want to stop spending nearly half of our city budget on police and jails every year, and end the practice of giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to for-profit private corporations seeking to build luxury housing. I will fight to bring our utility monopoly into local, public ownership.

What inspired you to run?
The current councilmember representing our district held a town hall about homelessness in Louisville. At his urging, I spoke against our cruel and performative policy of clearing houseless encampments, which wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars per year rather than providing housing and services for our most vulnerable neighbors. He left that meeting and spent his discretionary budget on police overtime to help clear more camps and other tasks, doubling down on the failed strategy that I and many residents voiced opposition to.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
I want to build a movement of working people to fight for democratic control of our lives, and to build a city that meets the needs of the many, not the few. It is this same movement that we must build from the bottom up to fundamentally change the entire country.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
Our city has a housing crisis, with not enough affordable housing to meet the needs of our residents. Our public services are chronicallly underfunded and neglected. Working people struggle to make a wage good enough to provide for their families, and local government fails to deliver on anything that could make their lives easier. The only way to solve these problems is to build the people power so that our city government is listening to the unified voice of the people rather than the people who write $2100 checks every electoral cycle. Our budget fundamentally needs to be reoriented towards the needs of the people and this is the only way to make that happen.

JP with fellow Democratic Socialist Robert Levertis Bell. © Jesse Lyninger

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
The vast majority of Americans, just like the vast majority of people in every country, are workers. We need to build working class power, rebuild the labor movement, and bring working people together in shared struggle to fight for the things that would benefit them.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
I’m an organizer. I will remain an organizer after this election, using the power of the office of District 6. I know that only movement can deliver the change our city needs, and I am ready and excited to help build that movement.

What is your motto in life?
A better world is possible.

Where can we find out more about you?
www.jpforlouisville.com You can also follow our social media everywhere @jpforlou