Craig Greenberg (born August 22, 1973) is an American businessman, lawyer, and politician[1] serving as the third mayor of Louisville Metro.[2] During his mayoral campaign, he was the target of an assassination attempt at his campaign headquarters, but emerged unscathed.
Greenberg began his law career at Frost Brown Todd in Louisville.[8] As an attorney with the firm, he worked on its ancillary business initiatives.[5]
In 2006, Greenberg met art collectors and investors Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, and with them co-founded the 21c Museum Hotels chain.[9][6][1] He was named the company's president in 2012 and chief executive officer in 2017.[10] He stepped down from 21c Museum Hotels in June 2020.[11]
In April 2021, Greenberg announced his candidacy for mayor of Louisville in the 2022 election, seeking to succeed Greg Fischer, who could not run for reelection due to term limits.[15] He ran on a platform of public safety, affordable housing, universal pre-K, cracking down on illegal guns, supporting abortion rights, and cleaning up the city.[16]
Attempted assassination
On February 14, 2022, Quintez Brown, a 21-year-old social justice activist and prominent voice in the Black Lives Matter community who was running as an independent for Louisville's Metro Council, walked into Greenberg's campaign headquarters office near downtown Louisville and allegedly fired several shots from a 9 mmGlocksemi-automatic pistol at Greenberg from the doorway.[9][17][18] A bullet passed through Greenberg's shirt and sweater but did not injure him.[19][20][21][22][8] Brown then fled, as a member of the office staff was able to slam its door closed and the rest of staff barricaded the door with tables and desks.[17][19][23] Brown was soon arrested less than half a mile away, carrying a 9 mm handgun and loaded 9 mm magazines, and was charged with several crimes, including attempted murder.[24][25][26][27][28][29] Louisville Metro Council President David James called the incident an "attempted assassination".[30] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell characterized the shooting as “what appears to be an assassination attempt against a Jewish mayoral candidate".[20]
The next day, Black Lives Matter Louisville, a chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, and the Louisville Community Bail Fund jointly posted bail of $100,000 for Brown.[28][31] Greenberg said he was "traumatized" by Brown's release, adding, "it is nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday."[20] Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell expressed disapproval of Brown's release. McConnell called it "jaw-dropping" and Booker agreed that Brown should have remained incarcerated.[32][29]
Brown was later rearrested on new federal charges, held as a federal prisoner at the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, Kentucky, and ordered to remain in custody ahead of trial.[22][17] In March 2022, a grand jury indicted him on state charges of one count of attempted murder and four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.[17]
In March 2023, lawyers for Brown announced they would pursue the insanity defense.[33] Brown pleaded guilty to all federal charges in July 2024.[34]
Election
Greenberg won the Democratic primary election in a field of eight candidates in May, finishing 20 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher.[16][35] In the November 8 general election, he defeated the Republican nominee, Bill Dieruf, by five percentage points, becoming mayor-elect of Louisville.[16][36][37]
Personal life
Greenberg met his wife, Rachel, in Boston. She works as a public school teacher and they have two children. Greenberg is Jewish.[6]
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