Bob Gibson is running for open seat in state House

Bob Gibson

The race for the open seat of state representative for Woodford County again has a candidate.

Bob Gibson, chief information officer and technology director for the Woodford County Schools, said in a press release, "I am running because I want to give everyone the opportunity to succeed. My focus has always been to advance high-quality education, promote personal development and ensure fair treatment of all. I would be proud to stand up and fight for you in an open manner, listening to your needs."

Gibson, 49, is seeking the 56th District seat of Democratic Rep. Joe Graviss, who is running for the state Senate seat being vacated by former governor Julian Carroll of Frankfort. All are Democrats. So is Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift, who entered the House race July 12 and withdrew July 19. No other candidates have announced.

The 56th District includes Woodford County and parts of Fayette and Franklin counties. "Throughout our district, I have heard that, while people have been happy with our representation in Frankfort, they also have noticed the dysfunction that consumes politics in state government," Gibson said. "Dysfunction is disastrous for taxpayers."

Gibon said he would use "a common sense approach" to focus on "quality lifelong learning; fiscal responsibility, protecting workers, properly funding education and pensions;" promoting 'farming, manufacturing, trades, and tourism;" and "statesmanship -- restoring civility and bipartisanship."

He said his 25 years of "collaborating with others and building our community through teaching, educational administration, and civic involvement . . . has given me a unique perspective of our community and how state government influences our everyday lives."

Gibson is a graduate of Woodford County High School and Centre College, where he played basketball, and of Eastern Kentucky University, where he earned a master's degree in instructional leadership in 2005. He has been a special-education and social-studies teacher and a basketball coach, and was athletic director and assistant principal at WCHS from 2006 to 2013.

Gibson ran unsuccessfully for Fiscal Court magistrate in 2006. He founded the Woodford County Public Schools Hall of Fame in 2008 and chaired the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce in 2017-18. He is married to Elizabeth Burge Gibson, an English teacher at WCHS. They live in Versailles.