Candidate for: Kenton County Commissioner District 3;
Party: Democrat;
Status: Challenger;
Jordan Baldridge is one of a packed field of candidates in the race for Kenton County commissioner in District 3, which encompasses much of the northwestern portion of the county (note: Although commissioners’ seats are divided into districts, they are elected at-large, meaning everyone in the county can vote for them).
He will face Democrat John Busse in the May primary. Whoever wins that race will face off against whoever wins the Republican primary, either Richard “Scott” Kimmich, Rebecca Reckers or Matthew Hayden, in the general election.
This will be the first time Baldridge is running for elected office. He grew up in Campbell County but lives in Lakeside Park with his wife and child. He has a B.A. in political science and currently works in IT.
Baldridge told LINK nky that he was motivated to get into politics by what he characterized as the overall erosion of privacy and rights in American life from both parties.
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For instance, even though he’s running as a “very progressive” Democrat, he said, he’s explicitly come out in favor of the Second Amendment and even pitched the idea of a county-run gun club where people could learn about local laws related to guns and constitutional rights around gun ownership generally.
Additionally, he expressed concern about the possibility of AI data processing centers getting established in the county, even though he himself sometimes used AI in his job.
“I love how beautiful it is here,” Baldridge said. “I grew up going into the woods behind our yard. I love driving through Kentucky and just seeing all the trees and forests and all the lands we have, and I want to protect that.”
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Other local priorities Baldridge pointed to included updating the county’s online financial transparency portal, which was set up to give residents easy access to the county’s financial data but was inoperable when LINK nky wrote this profile. Overall, he expressed a greater desire for transparency and accessibility from local officials.
“That’s how I look at the American citizen, the Kenton County Citizen – they’re the boss,” Baldridge said. “They’re the manager. They just need the information. If you give them the information, then they can make an informed decision.”