Incumbent Hamilton County Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, has held his seat for two four-year terms. He’s now seeking a third.
Sharpe will face challenger and fellow Red Bank resident Justin Pinkerton during the county’s general election Aug. 6. Pinkerton is an independent candidate. They are both running to represent District 6, which encompasses areas of North Chattanooga and the city of Red Bank.
Sharpe, 50, lives with his wife and three children and works as a real estate agent after receiving his license in 2025. Before that, he worked in the craft brewing industry and then took a break to both be a stay-at-home dad for his kids and manage his duties as a commissioner, Sharpe said in an interview. He’s lived in the Red Bank area since 2002.
He originally ran eight years ago because he wanted to improve education opportunities in Hamilton County’s public schools, he said.
That would continue to be one of his major priorities heading into a third term, he said, and he sees his district’s biggest challenge as properly funding its schools.
His district encompasses places where a city government typically takes care of roads, public safety and other services.
“By far the largest thing that Hamilton County government does for the people of District 6 is invest in schools,” Sharpe said, “and we don’t do it very well.“
(READ MORE: Independent challenger Justin Pinkerton wants better communication for Red Bank area)
OFFICE DETAILS
Duties: County commissioners set the county property tax rate, vote on the annual budget, approve county contracts and vote on local zoning requests.
District: District 6 includes areas of North Chattanooga and the city of Red Bank.
Key issues: Urban planning and development density, housing affordability, education funding as area’s elementary schools combine.
Timing: New commissioners take office Sept. 1, 2026.
Salary: As of fiscal year 2027, commissioners are paid about $28,600 a year.
THE ELECTION
The general election is Aug. 6, and early voting runs July 17-Aug. 1.
WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND
Do you think the school budget is adequately funded?
“I would say that it can be improved. I know a lot of parents are wanting additional support staff for the schools. Clearly, in this day and age, those are needed. We’re living in a different time now with social media, children on the internet … We need to work on improvement with increasing it so schools can have that support staff there.”
– Justin Pinkerton, independent
“No, I don’t believe it’s adequately funded. We still have buildings that are crumbling. Unsafe conditions for not only students, but teachers. We just had to terminate 128 positions to facilitate a pay raise … That’s challenging. The state of Tennessee is 51st in per pupil spending for public education. I think that anyone that would argue that we are adequately funded isn’t paying close enough attention.”
– David Sharpe, Democrat
Do you think your district is growing too fast or too slow?
“From what I can tell you from being a lifelong resident of District 6, it has grown a lot … It’s changed a lot, with a lot of nice homes and good people who call this place home. I think growth has been steady. I know that it can seem things have grown fast here … My concern is with the way things have expanded, is infrastructure keeping up? Growth is good as long as we manage it.”
– Justin Pinkerton, independent
“We’re growing. I don’t know if it’s too fast or too slow. We really don’t have a whole lot of control over that. Change is something that challenges all of our districts, but I believe with some of the frustrations we have with traffic comes things that we really appreciate, like additional restaurants and retail establishments that people enjoy … I would say it just is what it is, and we need to learn to manage it with regard to how we invest in various aspects of infrastructure.”
– David Sharpe, Democrat
He wants to prevent Rivermont Elementary in Hixson from shutting down, he said — something County Mayor Weston Wamp’s administration initiated while working on opening a new school on Hixson Pike sharing a campus with the area’s YMCA. The project would combine several North Chattanooga and Red Bank school zones into one.
And Sharpe also wants to see the county government get more creative with finding extra revenue streams to funnel toward schools, he said. He is supportive of a local sales tax increase by a half cent to try and generate more funding to pay teachers and renovate facilities, he said.
“This community, by and large, is fairly conservative, particularly when it comes to finances,” Sharpe said. “And I appreciate that. Knowing that, I think it’s important that we explore avenues that may be more appreciated by a larger portion of our population.”
Sharpe, as a whole, is in favor of growth coming to his district, he said, while maintaining affordability for people who are buying their first home and starting families.
From the dais, he has said in the past that the county needs to be open to development in order to healthily grow its tax base and also provide homes for all income levels so existing starter homes open up consistently. He voted in favor of the version of Plan Hamilton that passed with amendments, which were worked on by home builders.
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The County Commission doesn’t control the speed of growth and development, Sharpe said. What the government should invest in is proper infrastructure to support it, he said.
Mary Westbrook lives in Hill City and has known Sharpe for several years, she said by phone. In her view, he is independently minded and has worked hard for his district to prioritize public education.
He is also transparent, she said, and she trusts he’ll do what he says he wants to do. That’s what people want these days, Westbrook said.
“He refuses to rubber stamp the status quo,” Westbrook said. “I’ve seen him in action when I’ve gone to commission meetings. When he believes in something, he’ll fight for it.”
Sharpe was first elected in 2018, ousting Republican Joe Graham from a seat with boundaries that represented Red Bank at its northern tip and stretched as far south as Lookout Valley.
After redistricting ahead of the 2022 election cycle, Sharpe was reelected to the District 6 seat with new boundaries, beating Republican challenger Ruth Jeno by about 1,500 votes.
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.