Originally broadcast live July 15, 2026. Transcript edited for length and clarity. See our June 5, 2026 interview with her opponent, Mayor Gorton, here.
Karyn Czar, WUKY
Raquel, thank you for being with us today.
Raquel Carter, mayoral candidate
Well, thank you for having me.
Czar
This is your first live visit in our studio, so we really appreciate you taking time for us.
You're new to politics, but you are well-known in this community. You are the owner of Guide Realty, served as the Chair of the Lexington Board of Adjustment, and on the board of advocacy group Lexington for Everyone. What drew you into the Lexington mayoral race?
Carter
I think it's just the desire to continue to give back to Lexington. As you said, all those things that I was doing, whether it's running the business or being involved on the Board of Adjustment - I also sit on the Kentucky Real Estate Commission - those things were just actions, just a way to give back in the space that I was. I look at it in that way. Everyone is giving back to the community where they are and, as you continue to grow and you realize you can do more impact, you have to step up and do it where it's needed.
Czar
How do you feel that your experiences thus far will make you a good choice for mayor?
Carter
I really feel that I have the best mix of experience, because I have real life experience in business and creating jobs and growing other businesses. I have experience in creating homeowners when we're in the middle of a housing crisis. So, those things translate to some of the biggest issues that we hafe.
I also have experience working in the government - working on the Board of Adjustment and working with the commission. More importantly, I realize that policies that are made affect our everyday lives, and I'm still out here in our everyday lives running a business, raising kids. My husband and I are very active and involved. I think that gives a real, unique balance.
Czar
What would be your top priorities if you are elected?
Carter
The thing that made me decide to run is the most basic: if you work here in Lexington, you should be able to afford to live here. Honestly, we have a housing crisis right now, and everyone knows it, and everyone says it, and the numbers reflect it. We're over 22,000 housing units behind right now. We're projected to be 30,000 housing units behind by 2030.
Housing affects everything. It affects traffic. It affects education. It affects us attracting new jobs. I think about my son, for example. My son's a senior. He's going to college. And when he graduates, even though he's done all the right things, just like we train our kids to do and we raise them up to do, he'll graduate from college and I'm not sure he can afford to buy a house and start a life here. That was such a gaping failure for me - as a parent and as a business owner and as a community leader, we have to do something about that.
Czar
We actually did a story on NPR recently about that. It used to be, back when I was younger - a hot minute ago - the average age was mid-20s to be able to purchase your very first home. It may not have been anything large, but you were able to purchase a home. Now, they're saying that age has jumped to 40.
Carter
To 40s! Can you imagine? That's almost tragic. But it's definitely a failure of vision. So, we can't just be successful ourselves. We can't just get our own houses and get our own jobs and then let future generations fend for themselves. You know, that's not the way that it works.
Right now, our median home price is around $340,000 in Lexington. When I bought my first home, just a little over $100,000 - that was a stretch. That was a stretch for us then. And this dream of homeownership and being an active community member in Lexington - we're making it unattainable.
Czar
And when you look at mortgages - if you buy a home in your 20s, you know you're out of that by your 50s. But now you're looking at your 70s.
Carter
Yeah, absolutely. It's tough. It's tough.
Just think of it in terms like this, too. We're talking about work-here-live-here opportunities. So, right now, more than half of the people that work in Lexington live outside of Lexington. People talk to me all the time about the traffic issue - we are literally becoming a commuter city. You know, people aren't always moving outside of Lexington because they want to; it's because they have to to be able to find somewhere to afford to live.
Czar
You brought up affordable housing already, and we've talked to many of our listeners about what their concerns are: affordable housing was near the top of the list; data centers and safety were some of the main concerns. Continuing on just a little bit with affordable housing - how would you tackle that, especially with all your experience in the industry?
Carter
Well, not only my experience, but the partnerships and collaborations that I've built over the years, and the people that live here in Lexington that want to contribute to the solution to this problem. It's one of those things we talked about briefly that are encouraging or positive in the campaign experience - the most positive is how many people want to collaborate to solve these problems!
We have an affordable housing pipeline already. We have projects that people want to get off the ground that we could support and actually make it easier to get through. Our red tape and our bureaucracy right now extends the whole process. Right now, we're averaging close to - I think it's over 500 days to get a small subdivision approved. Cities of similar size can do it in less than 60 days. It's important that we have good policies; it's important that we have controls and we do those things in a very smart way; it's important that we protect our current farms; it's important that we protect our current neighborhoods, but we have to move. We have to act. We can't just do another plan and sit it on the shelf and not let anything get done.
Czar
Moving on to data centers - recently, the Lexington Urban County Council unanimously passed the development moratorium which halts permits, zoning changes, and development plans until the end of October. Would you like to see that extended and what is your position on data centers?
Carter
I think what's really important about that whole conversation - and it's going back to the conversation we just had - we're lacking housing here. We're not bringing the jobs here that we need to bring. We can't afford to give away land for data centers. So it's not data centers or not data centers because there's no need. Fayette County is not the place for a data center. Not only do we know that we have bigger concerns, what we also understand is our community doesn't want it.
And that's one of the most encouraging times that there's an issue we took a look at and the council acted on it quickly. They've been studying it a while, too. I'll give credit to council in that regard, so when the community stepped up and said "Hey, you know, you need to regulate this; you need to get in control of it," they were there and they acted quickly.
Czar
Cities and towns across the state are following suit and putting a pause on this. One of the issues that's been brought up - not just the space that it takes up, but the impact to the environment. Is that a concern of yours as well?
Carter
Yes. As we know, the environment, this is all we have. I am not just data-driven, but science-driven. We have to give the time to do the research and then make sure the information that's out there is correct. The focus on data centers needs to switch to the focus on "What can we do with our land which serves the community, which serves the environment?"
And that is housing and bringing jobs to support the people that are here.
Czar
As far as public safety - that's a major issue of people wanting to live and stay in Lexington. The city's overall crime rate is lower than the national average right now, and serious offenses have dropped in the past few years, so that is good news! But there are neighborhoods - statistically: Duncan Park, Central Downtown, and Castlewood Park - that are showing higher rates of violent crime and property theft in particular. What would you propose to level out the safety across the city so that all areas, the people who live in every part of this town, feel safe?
Carter
I love the way that you stated that because that's what public safety is. No matter where you live or where you work, you should feel safe. When we're measuring statistics, we also have to measure that component of "I have to feel safe when I walk outside my house."
I think that we would double down on our community engagement, having our first responders also be active members in the community. We've seen great strides in that. But I also see that we tend to turn our focus in one area and not so much on other areas.
When we're looking at public safety as a whole, we have to realize how that's different in different areas. We have to include our traffic and pedestrian safety. We have to include domestic violence issues - that's one of the most definitive factors of future crime - with people that have a domestic violence incident.
When we're able to actually focus on the root of those problems - housing instability, economic instability, and general ownership in the community - that's how we see those things resolve themselves long-term.
I'm a storyteller, so forgive me, I'm squeezing another story in here, if that's okay. I have a 12-year-old daughter who you will probably see in politics one day because she runs my campaign from the side. We were driving down the street one day and she just makes this random statement about how the reason that people don't solve problems is that they just focus on the problem at the end - you have to address what starts it from the beginning. What's the cause of it? What's the solution? Otherwise, it's just temporary.
I'm at a stoplight and I turn at the 12-year-old. First of all, I'm not sure what she was thinking about - it may have been some k-pop related thing or something - but that thought process... We can't just have temporary fixes. We have to really focus on the solutions. In public safety, they are housing stability and economic stability. In our planning and our growth - we have to be focused on our traffic and safety issues, because those numbers are larger than our homicide and violence numbers.
Czar
Well, and some of the people that I spoke to who live in these neighborhoods have said they sometimes feel their part of the city has been forgotten.
Carter
Yeah
Czar
As a realtor, do you see that disparity?
Carter
Yeah. Well, you know, I've been in real estate for 26 years, now. Although I'm not on the ground anymore showing houses, I have 50 agents that are on a daily basis, and they're coming back to me with those conversations. People want to live in communities. They want to live in neighborhoods and they want to not be taken advantage of.
So, where we've had the housing crisis, we do see houses and values sometimes going up in those neighborhoods - people purchasing in those neighborhoods that are not invested in those communities/ I think when we look at it as making sure we're invested totally in the community, it matters. And I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record, but think of all the workers in Lexington that live outside of Lexington.
Czar
The number is huge.
Carter
Yeah. And a lot of those are our police officers, our teachers, our people that are otherwise involved in communities. We're actually removing them from these spaces. It creates a void that, as mayor, I'd love to see filled.
Czar
On a personal note, I am now being priced out of the housing market. Luckily, I have roommates so that I can stay in Lexington, but if I did not have that, I would not be able to live and work in the city.
Carter
That's a very common story that I hear. It's a shame that we let it get this far because we actually saw it coming. In 2016, the city had a planning study that showed we were, I think, about 6,000 affordable housing units behind. I can't recall the total number - a little closer to 10,000.
Czar
22,500 new housing units are needed.
Carter
That's 2016. But in 2006 - I'm sorry, you probably corrected me. In 2006, that number was around 6,000. So, here we are in 2016 and the number's 22,000 in total. And we sat and we did not do enough to get it done. As mayor, once we've actually done the study and we have the information, I'll be the type of mayor to act on it. And we have to act fairly aggressively now because we've let it get out of control.
Czar
Apologies for that. Basically, your point is that it is a massive jump in a 20-year span.
Carter
Yes, yes. And it was predicted in the prior study, and the current administration just didn't do enough to act on it. As mayor, if we get the study, if we have the information, we have to act on it.
Czar
Moving on to severe weather - you have definitely not been silent about what we went through - what the city went through - in the recent storm this past winter. The current administration's handling of snow and ice removal during those storms, what do you view as the shortcomings, and what would you do differently?
Carter
Yeah, I appreciate that. And I also will just emphasize that we said storms. You know, there were multiple incidents where we weren't prepared and we didn't respond appropriately. We have to be prepared before it happens. And, if you have to pivot when an event like that happens, you've got to do it and you've got to do it quickly.
I'll go back to when we had the first snow of this year. For two weeks, our kids were home. And we have to remember, it's not just the inconvenience. You know, there's some children that don't get good meals if they don't go to school. We have lots of residents here, workers, that, if they miss a paycheck, they can't pay their bills. They can't pay the rent. It's a big deal. It's not just a weather incident.
We have to look at it as the urgent event that it was. We have to be prepared ahead. We had a plan that was dismal, that did not operate. We knew from the prior year that that plan did not work. And, instead of changing the plan, we added some additional money to the same plan, which did not work again. And that doesn't work in a household. That doesn't work in a business. And, of course, that doesn't work for a city.
I'll also say - the last time I heard a conversation with the current mayor in July, we still did not have a plan in place. I think that's ridiculous. We've got all the information. It's done across the country. We have the resources. We put the money in the budget. We have to make a plan, and then we have to act on it.
Czar
If you're elected and, next February, an ice storm hits, what would you do?
Carter
The first thing is really the timing. We have to act more quickly. We know it's coming. The weather report was correct. We have 24 hours to man our people to work around the shift on those schedules. If we already have the resources in place... Again, I'll go back to the preparedness. Understand, we did not have enough equipment. We did not have enough contractors. We should have those things in place now, and we should have better agreements in place with our contractors that actually will make sure that we are covered.
The other thing that will be different about my leadership is that I will be there. I'm a present leader. I'm an active leader. You know, I see a war room. I see those things all-hands-on-deck because communication was a large failure in that instance. If we have the money, we have the resources, and we have the plan in place, you have to have the right people in the room and on the ground to communicate and make sure that's executed. I don't have to create anything new. We don't have to create anything new. Cities have been clearing ice for ages and will continue to do so. We just have to execute and implement that plan properly.
Czar
We are almost out of time. I do want to ask you, on a personal note, what is it that you love most about being a Lexingtonian? And what is it about you that people may not know that you'd love the voters to know before they head to the polls?
Carter
My mother moved us here years ago. She was an IBMer, right? And we joke about that because, when IBM was here, IBM was a culture. It brought people here. It brought people here and made them part of the community. And Lexington is definitely a community. I can walk up and down the street and speak to people and know people. I graduated from Fayette County Public Schools. Every conversation that I have with people is so engaging, and people are so collaborative. People have a lot of good advice... or advice, in any case.
My husband and I are here. We are both entrepreneurs. Both of my kids have gone through Fayette County Public Schools. My son graduated. My daughter's in middle school. And every school that we've been in, every environment that we've been in here in Lexington, has been welcoming and encouraging. More than anything, I just want that for many generations to come.
Czar
You've talked about what a great communicator you are. What type of communicator would you be?
Carter
Well, you know, I like to talk a lot. You have to keep giving me the cutoff. But, the good thing about talking a lot is that people don't have to guess, one, who you are. And, as a leader, that will also be my communication style - that we need to make sure that we're communicating, giving information regularly to the people, not just when we have a bad incident or when it's, I guess, photo-operative. You know, just regular communications, because we're also very smart and engaged citizens. When we have the information and our citizens are informed, we normally can get on board and work together to bring the city forward.
Czar
Raquel, thank you so much for being with us today. Please come back.
Carter
Oh, I will. Thank you. This has been fun. I appreciate it so much, Karyn.
