The Democratic candidate for Hamilton County mayor is set to be in court in June for a lawsuit over missed payments.
Mark Herndon is challenging incumbent Republican Mayor Weston Wamp in the upcoming August county elections. According to county records obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Herndon was served a notice to appear in General Sessions Court on June 8. He’s being sued by a bank based out of Montreal called BMO, which financed a recreational vehicle Herndon bought in 2023.
The full cost of the RV, including interest, was about $236,900, with monthly payments of about $945 that would have eventually paid off the vehicle by 2044, according to court documents. The bank is seeking to repossess the vehicle rather than recoup any cash. The records don’t say how many payments the bank is alleging Herndon missed.
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Herndon said by phone that he has recently struggled with making payments on the RV, though he couldn’t name exactly how many he had missed. The financial struggle came around the time his 14-year-old son died by suicide in August 2025, though Herndon had issues with making enough money as a self-employed contractor restoring homes before then, he said.