Downard previously held the title of president of Louisville Community Development Bank, to which he was appointed by Mayor Jerry E. Abramson.
He was raised in Indian Hills, Kentucky, a suburb of Louisville, and has moved back to the area as an adult.
His grandfather, C. Paul Downard, worked for a retail coal company, and served as president of the former Louisville Board of Aldermen.
Downard ran his campaign based on promises to improve the local economy and increase funding for public safety, saying that under Abramson the city had slipped in both areas and was lagging behind nearby cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis.
Although Downward was endorsed by police officers and firefighters, the Courier-journal reported that his message that Abramson was soft on crime and economic issues failed to reach voters, saturated by other ads of, among other things, five congressional races in the Louisville television market.