Staff file photo / Chip Baker poses for a portrait in the Times Free Press studio on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Hamilton County Commissioner Chip Baker will run for re-election next year in the significantly altered District 2, he announced Wednesday.
Baker, R-Signal Mountain, was first elected in 2018. He is so far the only candidate to run for the seat. He serves on the committees of diversity and equity; education; finance and insurance; and health, human services, personnel, arts, recreation and public relations.
"Obviously, we're going to have a number of commissioners who will be new," Baker said in a phone interview. "We'll have a new mayor, we'll have a new sheriff. We'll have a new superintendent. So near-term, [my goal] would be to provide stability of leadership through that process."
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During his first term, Baker worked to remove Core Civic as a for-profit provider of jails in the county and funded a joint venture with EPB of Chattanooga to give internet access to 20,000 school children who previously didn't have access.
He has also worked to support the Mountain Education Foundation; Mountain Arts Community Center; Walden's Ridge Emergency Services; and the Chattanooga Breakfast Rotary Club, which assists Rivermont Elementary School.
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The Hamilton County Commission last month approved new district boundaries based on 2020 census data, adding two districts to the county's current nine.
District 2 now includes portions of Falling Water, Signal Mountain and Red Bank. It also includes eastern Chattanooga. The main change with the new map is that the district as a whole shifted further north.
"It'll be new, which means it's fun," Baker said. "It's like anything else. It's all about change."
The more northern areas of the district include what Baker took from District 1 such as Northwoods and Flat Top Mountain. At the very northern tip of the district, communities along Highway 111 near Heiss Mountain Road, Reed Lane and Jones Gap Road will also be included in the new district.
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Baker lost a portion of northern Chattanooga, which houses communities near Route 27. He also lost voters who live around McCahill Road, Oakland Terrace and Martin Road. Those areas will move to the new District 6.
Contact Logan Hullinger by phone at 814-319-5158 or via email at lhullinger@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LoganHullinger.