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Opinion: First two days of election petitions offer glimpse of bumpy ride in 2022 Hamilton County elections

Staff File Photo By Troy Stolt / A voter fills out his ballot inside the Hamilton County Election Commission during the third day of early voting in the Tennessee statewide primary elections in July 2020 in Chattanooga.
Staff File Photo By Troy Stolt / A voter fills out his ballot inside the Hamilton County Election Commission during the third day of early voting in the Tennessee statewide primary elections in July 2020 in Chattanooga. Staff File Photo By Troy Stolt / A voter fills out his ballot inside the Hamilton County Election Commission during the third day of early voting in the Tennessee statewide primary elections in July 2020 in Chattanooga.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

Republicans occupy every countywide office in Hamilton County and have a 6-3 advantage on the Hamilton County Commission.

Will 2022 increase that partisan advantage or see it whittled down?

Candidates for commission and school board districts (the latter of which will be contended on a partisan basis for the first time) and countywide offices began picking up qualifying petitions to run on Monday. Of the 45 people who picked up petitions for partisan offices Monday and Tuesday, 41 were Republicans.

If all 45 qualify, even the first two days’ worth of candidates offer the prospect of some interesting primary races in May and general election races in August.

The big prize, of course, is county mayor, where incumbent Jim Coppinger is retiring. Currently, that field has three contenders, political scions Weston Wamp and Matt Hullander and Hamilton County Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley, all Republicans.