A self-proclaimed “Norman gal,” city council candidate Linda Lockett hopes to lead the city she has always lived in.

The retired businesswoman and OU alumna has many ties to the city — from her father running its first hotel to her long-time work with the Norman Business Association.

Lockett will face off against former OU student Stephen Tyler Holman in the Ward 7 runoff election May 1 after his name was pulled from a basket March 11 at the Cleveland County Election Board office. Lockett did not receive a majority in the March election when she received 164 votes, or 47.9 percent.

Lockett said she decided to try for city council again because she has the business experience Norman needs.

In her last campaign, Lockett said she was hesitant about knocking on strangers’ doors. But she said she is more comfortable putting herself out there to meet and talk to new people.

“I’m very consistent because I’m saying what I believe,” Lockett said.

Lockett got her first taste of owning and operating a business working at the Lockett Hotel for her father, who bought the business after he came back to his hometown after World War II.

Linda would run the front desk, change the sheets in rooms, tend to financial records and perform any other work the hotel needed.

“Daddy was a great believer that if I was going to manage the hotel, I needed to be able to do everything everybody else could,” she said, laughing.

Lockett worked at the hotel during college before graduating with a business degree.

“We had a city council person who told my brother that not only should we not do anything to help business come to Norman, we should ask them to pay for the privilege of coming to Norman,” Lockett said.

Bill Lockett, who worked with Linda in his photo-processing business for more than 30 years, said he and his sister have grown up watching Norman grow from a small town to the growing city it has become.

Bill said Linda knows because this is her campaign, she has to work for it herself.

“She knows what needs to be done, and she’s going to do it herself,” he said.

Former Ward 7 candidate Brande Kauffman put her support behind Linda after she was not chosen to participate in the runoff election.

Kauffman cited Linda’s background as a downtown business owner as a qualification that would help solve the city’s recent financial troubles.

“I feel like she has the good business acumen and the ability to make the tough calls when it comes to those cuts, and hopefully she won’t do it at the expense of city employees,” Kauffman said.

Linda said she has nothing but support for OU and the student body that make up most of her ward.

“The university has, as I understand, tremendous plans for growth,” Linda said. “We need to have a council that can deal with and live comfortably and agreeably with the University of Oklahoma.”