Raquel Carter

Economy
Carter's platform centers on affordability, arguing that a widening gap between local wages and housing costs is pushing people who work in Lexington out of the city itself. Her campaign frames more homes and higher-paying job opportunities as linked goals, one plank of a broader platform her site organizes around the idea that "Lexington Deserves more HOMES."

Infrastructure
She has made winter-weather preparedness and basic road maintenance a central complaint against the current administration, pointing to potholes in warmer months and roads left icy and hazardous for extended periods after storms. For Carter, keeping streets passable in all seasons is a baseline test of whether city government is doing its job.

Security
On public safety, Carter argues that residents' own sense of security in their neighborhoods, not official crime statistics alone, should be the real measure of success. She has also raised questions about the expansion of the city's networked license-plate camera system under the current administration, suggesting the buildout deserves more public scrutiny.

Governance
Carter casts her candidacy as a break from long-tenured incumbency, telling voters her campaign is about new leadership rather than continuing the status quo. Alongside housing and jobs, her platform calls for greater public investment in essential city services and more opportunity generally, positioning those as the deliverables of a change in who runs city hall.