Susan Westrom

Before entering politics, Westrom was the director of advocacy and marketing for the Buckhorn Children's Home as well as a real estate agent with Keller Williams Bluegrass.^[2] By the mid-1990s, Westrom was a social worker and led the Lexington, Kentucky chapter of the Association for Children for the Enforcement of Support; on May 20, 1994, she led a rally and candlelight vigil on the local courthouse steps.^[1] By November 1998, she was working as a child advocate for the Buckhorn Foundation.^[4]

In the 1998 election, Westrom was first elected to represent District 79^[2] in the Kentucky House of Representatives, defeating Republican incumbent Larry Brandstetter.^[4] In the 2016 Kentucky House of Representatives election for District 79, Westrom defeated Ken Kearns with 59.4% of the 20,064 votes cast (11,909 to 8,155).^[5] She won the 2020 Kentucky House of Representatives election for her district, defeating Jon Larson, who conceded the race in-person at Westrom's^[6] Lexington home. In June 2021, the Democratic representative was on ten legislative committees.^[2]

In the Kentucky legislature, Westrom worked towards removing juveniles from adult prisons, promoting the equine industry in Kentucky, facilitating families' access to Kentucky Housing Corporation benefits, and improving electric utility accountability.^[7]

After no Republicans filed to run against her, and being comfortable with her likely successor,^[8] Westrom announced her withdrawal from the 2022 election on February 10, 2022. She planned to serve the rest of her term through the end of the year.^[7] Chad Aull won his primary election in a "landslide", and being unopposed in the general, was elected to Westrom's seat.^[9]

• Susan Westrom on Twitter
• Media related to Susan Westrom at Wikimedia Commons