Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray brought his listening tour to a coffee shop in Murray Friday to find out more about western Kentucky issues.
Gray is one of the six challengersto unseat Republican junior Senator and former presidential candidate Rand Paul in the fall.
Gray sat down with about 10 people, including Murray Mayor Jack Rose and Calloway County Party Chair Dave Ramey, to discuss a range of rural western Kentucky issues.
Rose says he has seen little interest from Kentucky’s Senator addressing infrastructure concerns, citing Murray’s $60 million wastewater treatment plant.
Gray says the deteriorating infrastructure is one of the most significant issues for Kentucky.
“Pulling ourselves out of whatever problems we’ve got has a lot to do with growth," said Gray. "You know, I don’t think you can shrink yourself to greatness. If we look at history, every time the country has come out of difficult times it’s been – we have built ourselves out of adversity.”
Rose says Gray's got a better chance of working across party lines than anyone else.
"He got everybody around the table and as he mentioned, almost everybody made some kind of contribution," said Gray. "But at least he got people in one room at one time looking at one issue and how to solve it. That's a good way to solve problems."
Ramey says Gray's experience as a business owner and leader of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government helps him understand the issues facing rural western Kentucky.
"One of the great things about living in our community, there's people that I disagree with or the mayor disagree with but at the end of the day we all come together because we want to get things done for our community and I think Jim's that kind of man."
Grayfaces six democratic opponents Tuesday including veteran Ron Leach and filmmaker Sellus Wilder.
Gray also made a listening tour stop in Hopkinsville.
The primary is May 17th.