Lexington Mayor Jim Gray announces re-election bid for 2014

Halfway through his first term as Lexington’s mayor, Jim Gray told supporters and campaign volunteers on Tuesday night that he wants another four years.

Gray announced he would run for re-election in 2014 at an event to thank the volunteers who worked on his successful 2010 campaign when he unseated then-Mayor Jim Newberry. Gray held a similar event for volunteers last year.

A former CEO of his family’s construction company, Gray has faced financial crunches since taking office. He and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council have had to shrink the city’s budget and still face a growing problem with the solvency of its city employee pension system.

His decision to run for a second four-year term takes Gray out of consideration for a federal race in 2014, such as the 6th Congressional District, where

No challenger has emerged to run against Gray yet.