An independent challenger has entered the race for the 20th District state House seat occupied by Bowling Green Democrat Patti Minter.

Leanette Lopez has filed to run as an independent “because I did not want to be encumbered” by party affiliation, she said.

Lopez said she moved to Bowling Green in 2016 and is a former pastor and Christian recording artist. She has never held public office.

Lopez said she was unfamiliar with current legislation being discussed and passed in Frankfort and that she doesn’t have legislative priorities if elected.

“I don’t know the bills,” she said. “I will have to get back to you.”

Her platform is that she is “pro-life,” she said.

On her Facebook page, she touts the endorsement of Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson.

Wilkerson said he is endorsing her, but as a private citizen, not as the city’s mayor.

Wilkerson said he is endorsing Lopez because her “family-related positions better reflect the values of Bowling Green.”

Minter, who won the seat vacated by the 2018 retirement of longtime state Rep. Jody Richards, a fellow Democrat, is not opposed by a Republican or in the Democratic primary.

The filing deadline for independents is June 2.