Chris Long has announced that he’ll campaign again to be Chattanooga’s mayor.
“As a mayor, my main responsibility is to protect Chattanooga from threats foreign and domestic,” he said in a phone interview.
Long, described on his campaign website as a conservative, is a self-employed architectural and building codes consultant. In 2017, he was one of four candidates for mayor and came in last. He ran again in 2021, coming in seventh place with 491 votes in a field of more than a dozen candidates.
Long was eliminated from the contest after a first-round election triggered a runoff pitting Tim Kelly against Kim White. Kelly, now the incumbent mayor, won nearly 16,000 votes in the runoff.
Long qualified as a candidate in the 2025 election Dec. 12, 2024, a day ahead of Kelly.
Long said over the phone that if he unseats Kelly, a political independent, in the nonpartisan March 4 race, his priorities will include increasing paving and investing in other infrastructure improvements, permitting reform and curbing crime, homelessness and unauthorized immigration.
(READ MORE: Kelly announces bid for second term as Chattanooga mayor)
PERMITTING
Increasing support for manufacturing and small business is the core of Long’s economic plans for the city. Improving roadways and other infrastructure will be essential for attracting manufacturing companies to the city, he said.
“We would concentrate on specific areas that need repaving, even if we had to do it ourselves, instead of subcontracting it out,” he said of his plans.
“Our ‘Above and Below’ prosperity plan offers real solutions. Above ground, we have more than 50 trailheads within 30 minutes of downtown, generating $1.7 billion in tourism revenue. Below ground, the U.S. Geological Survey confirms our Chattanooga Black Shale contains vast natural resources. Modern manufacturing processes could create more than 2,000 jobs paying $58,240–$120 thousand annually,” Long said in a release announcing his candidacy.
And the city’s current permitting process is onerous for the owners of small businesses, he said.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the United States and Tennessee,” he said. “We have to support them.”
If elected mayor in the spring, he said he’d work to implement a fast-track permitting system that also eliminates some fees for permit applicants.
(READ MORE: Who qualified for Chattanooga’s 2025 city races)
IMMIGRATION
Social issues are also a major concern for Long. He said he’d carve out a part of the city budget — several hundred thousand dollars — and start an advertising campaign in the media to address crime.
“Let’s give them a 30-day notice that shooting’s gonna stop in Chattanooga,” he said of a plan to place anti-crime ads in newspapers and on broadcast stations. “We will not violate your civil rights in the process.
“Crime’s gonna need to stop a day before yesterday,” he said.
Homelessness is also a focus of Long’s. Aid to a substantial number homeless people is unnecessary, he said. Many people who are homeless choose to be, he said.
“Everybody I’ve talked to, it’s turned into a lifestyle,” Long said.
Long’s statements offer a contrast with those of the Kelly administration, which has made providing permanent supportive housing for homeless people a priority and announced plans for a homeless shelter.
People who choose to be homeless, Long said, take resources from people in serious need of help. Helping homeless Chattanooga natives and military veterans should be the city’s priority, he said.
“If you’re a taxpayer, if you show that you’ve worked here in Chattanooga, that you’ve contributed to Chattanooga, you were born here, you know, people sometimes fall in dire straits and hard time. We take care of those folks,” he said. “We can’t take care of the world.”
Eliminating unauthorized immigration into Chattanooga is also a needed means of refocusing the city’s priorities, he said. He said over the phone that he’d seen a white vehicle stop to let out a number of immigrants, who left with luggage.
Asked how he knew the people he’d seen were immigrants, he said, “They were Hispanic-looking and they got out the bus, and they looked a little bit homeless.
“We’ve got to take care of our own,” he said.
Long said he graduated from Southern Adventist University.
Contact Mariah Franklin at mfranklin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.