Red on red
Elected Republican members of the Hamilton County Commission and Hamilton County constitutional officers took the unusual step this week of endorsing the local Republican state legislative delegation for re-election.
The news release announcing the endorsements did not specify why they made the move, but two members of the delegation, District 27 state Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, and District 10 state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, are facing primary elections on Aug. 1. They are being opposed by Michele Reneau and Ed LeCompte, respectively.
District 26 state Rep. Greg Martin, R-Hixson, District 29 state Rep. Greg Vital, R-Harrison, and District 30 state Rep. Esther Helton-Hayes, R-East Ridge, are unopposed in the primary but have Democratic opponents in the general election on Nov. 5.
The release contained supportive comments from many of the Republicans, but several pointedly mentioned Hazlewood and Gardenhire.