Not to brag, but I may be one of the most informed voters on Hamilton County’s rolls.
For a week straight, I sat in a conference room with Chattanooga Times editor Ben Sessoms and Free Press editor Clint Cooper while we interviewed 20 candidates set to appear on local primary ballots for Hamilton County Commission, school board and criminal court clerk. The election opens Wednesday with early voting, and Election Day is May 5.
The group was a mix of incumbents, often pitching the advantages of experience, and newcomers, often eager to differentiate themselves with new ideas and energy. Some brought resumes or campaign flyers, others brought a notepad or a stacked pair of phones — one for official business, one personal.
“I have a coping mechanism,” one candidate told us before we started, “where when I’m nervous, I just tell people I’m nervous. So, I’m nervous.”
Clint, Ben and I talked to each candidate for 30 minutes to an hour, asking them to introduce themselves before jumping into questions. We touched on hot issues like population growth, traffic, school capacity, teacher pay, responsible technology use, mental health in schools and more. Ben and Clint asked how the candidates would pay for their proposals, whether they’d support tax increases, how the newcomers would have voted on controversial issues like the schools’ educator diversity policy or divorcing planning for the unincorporated county from Chattanooga.