An examination of election returns in the 2022 contest for Hamilton County mayor and the initial contest for county mayor under the current system in 1978 indicates how some county voting patterns have switched and some have remained the same based on the direction of national political parties.
Over those 44 years, the national Republican Party has moved from being thought of as the party of the rich and powerful to the party of Middle America, the party of the working family. Meanwhile, the national Democratic Party has moved from being thought of as the party of the average worker to the party of the rich, the powerful and the special interests.
In 1978, Democrat Jimmy Carter was president of the United States, and Democrat Marilyn Lloyd was the U.S. House member from the 3rd Congressional District that included Chattanooga. Tennessee had a Democratic governor, one of its two U.S. senators was a Democrat, and its legislature was heavily Democratic. Locally, Democrats held most of the county’s constitutional offices.
However, the county had decided upon a new county executive (now county mayor)/commission form of government and was electing its representatives for the first time.
The mayoral contenders were former county manager Dalton Roberts, a Democrat, former county registrar-at-large Tom Moore, a Republican, and East Ridge city manager Gene Drakeford, an independent. Although the Republican Party had made inroads in the state and even in the county with the election of a Republican sheriff in 1974, Democrats had the upper hand. But in a competitive race with no incumbent, nothing was certain.