Jerry Abramson

Jerry Abramson

Jerry Edwin Abramson (born September 12, 1946) is a Democratic politician who is the 55th and current Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.

Abramson previously served as the longest serving Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. Before his most recent term as the Metro Mayor of the merged city-county government Louisville Metro (a merger he championed), Abramson was the only person to have served three terms as Mayor of Louisville, fulfilling the allowed term limit. Abramson's original third term was extended by one year as part of a state-mandated transition to align the dates of local and federal elections.

Abramson's long period of service to Louisville as its mayor, as well as the fact that Abramson had never faced strong opposition in mayoral elections, led to the nickname of "mayor for life" being used locally, including by Louisville's own popular radio personality Terry Meiners. Abramson's popularity resulted in Bluegrass Poll approval ratings ranging from a 91 percent high in 1990 to a 73 percent low in 1994.

From 1993 to 1994, he was President of the United States Conference of Mayors. He was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

On July 19, 2009, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that Abramson would be running for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky on his ticket in 2011. Abramson has also served as an executive-in-residence at Bellarmine University.