J.P. Lyninger pulled off an upset in the Metro Council District 6 primary in May when he defeated Louisville Council Member Philip Baker by more than 500 votes. Lyninger earned a decisive 49% of the vote in a three-way race.
While campaigning, Lyninger leaned into his affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that Lyninger has been a member of since 2019.
Rather than shy away from identifying as a Democratic Socialist, which some residents might have seen as radical, Lyninger embraced it.
“That was on all of the literature,” Lyninger said during a recent interview with LPM News. “If I was at a candidate forum, I said, ‘I’m a socialist, I’m a movement organizer and I’m proud of these things.’”
Lyninger’s campaign focused on the need for more affordable housing in the district and addressing what he sees as the root causes of the city's gun violence crisis.
“I have a political analysis that is maybe a little different from some people,” Lyninger said. “I believe that a lot of problems we face are a lack of democracy in our lives … And I think that a lot of our problems stem from the needs of the working class being entirely neglected.”
Throughout his campaign, Lyninger channeled his experience as a community organizer. In 2020, he served as the campaign manager for a DSA candidate who narrowly lost to incumbent state Rep. Pamela Stevenson in the Democratic primary, garnering 46% of the vote. More recently, Lyninger has been part of several local protests calling for an end to what he says is a genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.
Professionally, Lyninger has worked as an auctioneer. Once he takes office in January, he said he plans to be a full-time Metro Council member.
On the issues
Lyninger said he thinks the root of many of the issues facing Louisville is “the hollowing out of civic society”: the closure of public pools, the decline in the amount of youth programming and the gutting of public transportation.
He said the city’s priorities have tilted away from social services in favor of a bloated police budget.
“We have doubled what we spend on policing since merger,” Lyninger said. “I don’t meet anyone who feels like we’re safer because of that, who feels like this is working.”
Lyninger said the amount of money Louisville spends on policing “strangles our ability to meet needs in the community.”
“We talk a lot in Louisville about addressing root causes of crime and violence, and I think we need to do a much better job of walking that walk,” he said.
Lyninger said he’s spent time this year attending neighborhood association meetings. He said many residents tell him they want city officials to address the large number of people living on the streets in District 6.
Lyninger plans to advocate for an alternative to the strategy Mayor Craig Greenberg’s administration has taken over the last two years, which he said is primarily focused on camp clearings.
“We take everything they own and we throw it in the dumpster,” Lyninger said. “They lose their tent, they lose their sleeping bag, they lose their important documents … and it’s for no benefit. When a camp gets cleared, it’s not like those people are housed all of a sudden.”
Lyninger said real solutions involve investments in affordable housing, housing services and addiction treatment for those who want it.
He said he will also be an advocate for expanding programs that give kids a place to be and where they can have access to positive mentorship.
“We don’t have those things anymore, certainly not to the scale we used to, and then we’re surprised that kids that we just turn out to the street … act like the streets are all they know,” he said.
Within District 6, Lyninger said he wants to expand democracy and residents’ access to decision-making. He plans to create different neighborhood boards within the district. Those boards would then send representatives to a broader community advisory board.
“And then we work together, across neighborhood lines, to see these are the problems we have,” he said. “It’s not just about what my neighborhood association needs, it’s about what District 6 needs, what Louisville needs.”
Lyninger said he also wants to organize “people’s assemblies” during the spring budget season, so people can give their input on how Louisville Metro should spend its roughly $1 billion annual budget.
A new type of leader in District 6
District 6 is a racially and economically diverse area. It covers Shelby Park, a neighborhood undergoing gentrification, and Old Louisville, where Victorian mansions are interspersed with affordable housing developments and apartments for University of Louisville students. The district also includes the historically Black neighborhoods of Park Hill and Algonquin.
Precinct-level data from the May primary shows Lyninger’s support was strongest in the center and eastern parts of the district, while incumbent Baker edged out wins in the district’s historically Black neighborhoods.
When he’s sworn in in January, not only will Lyninger be the first Democratic Socialist on Metro Council, he’ll also be the first white person to represent District 6.
Lyninger said he takes seriously the decline in Black representation in Louisville politics since the 2003 merger. For him, it comes back to his political convictions.
“I believe in the power of the multi-racial working class,” Lyninger said. “ I think that with the needs that aren’t being met, there’s more similarity in Park Hill and Algonquin to poor white areas of the district, and Louisville, than people realize.”
Lyninger said he’s committed to representing the needs and concerns of residents across District 6.
