NASHVILLE – Rumblings to the contrary, Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger says he fully intends to serve out the remaining three years in his current term.
And, the Republican mayor said Monday, if “God blesses me with good health” and he retains the requisite “fire in the belly” he “absolutely” could offer himself up to voters again in 2022.
“And that’s where I am right now. I’ve still got fire in the belly,” Coppinger said in a Times Free Press interview Monday.
The Times Free Press contacted the mayor, who was easily reelected in 2018 to a third term, amid talk in county GOP political circles that he would not serve out the remaining years of his four-year term.
Last weekend, that led to Coppinger to tell an audience at a Soddy-Daisy firehall breakfast that he was not stepping down.