Josh Wichman left the corporate world to find ways to serve his community, so now he’s running for Hamilton County Commission.
Wichman is running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Commissioner Mike Chauncey. They are vying for the District 8 seat, which represents parts of the Hamilton Place area and the entirety of the city of East Ridge, where both Chauncey and Wichman live. They will face off during the county’s general election Aug. 6.
Wichman, 42, was born in Cleveland, Tennessee, and moved to rural Hamilton County when he was young. He’s been living in East Ridge for about 20 years with his wife, alongside three cats and three dogs, he said in an interview.
He understands what it means to struggle, Wichman said, having come from a working-class family. He helps out with his friend’s start-up business through contracted packaging and production work.
But before that, he was immersed in the small business world, he said, which he was raised in by his parents. He ran a small business of his own before having to shutter it, Wichman said.
“I understand living paycheck to paycheck,” Wichman said. “Going into debt for a small business loan, or sales getting slow for a month and eventually failing. I’ve learned a lot, and it’s made me humble.”
(READ MORE: Mike Chauncey running for second term, seeks balance between developers, residents)
If elected, his goal would be to cultivate economic development and ensure everyone in East Ridge has the ability to make a proper living, Wichman said. Part of that is knowing what the county can do for them, he said.
“There’s not a lot of resources, not a lot of help out there,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know what’s going on. That’s not totally the county government’s fault, but making it more accessible, making it more open and transparent … they can truly feel value in services we’re trying to provide.”
He wants to ensure the county is picking local business partners, rather than large chains based outside the area, he said, and incentivize those local businesses to create jobs so people can live and work with fellow county residents. Local businesses put more into the community than major corporations, in Wichman’s view.
His district is growing fast, he said, and though that’s not always a bad thing, he thinks the county should take a closer look at whether it’s actually benefiting the community.
For example, for East Ridge, that could mean recruiting more grocery store options close by, he said.
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“Looking at urbanism from the idea of small, little changes that make people’s lives better, make them a little bit happier,” Wichman said.
He also sees the race as an opportunity to challenge what has been a Republican-held office, he said. There has not been a Democratic opponent for the District 8 seat since 2014. At the time, Democrat Kenny Smith challenged sitting Republican Commissioner Tim Boyd and lost by about 500 votes.
Wendy Osborn is a local business owner in East Ridge. She said by phone that she met Wichman this year after she learned he was running for office through a friend. She met him for coffee, and she said it only took two minutes for him to earn her vote. She has since donated $1,300 to his campaign.
Wichman is out and about in the community and has smart ideas about the future of East Ridge, Osborn said.
“He wants to make sure that changes are happening in a responsible way,” Osborn said. “It just clicks. He’s put a lot of thought into it. He’s very plugged into the community.”
OFFICE DETAILS
Duties: County commissioners set the county property tax rate, vote on the annual budget, approve county contracts and vote on local zoning requests.
District: District 8 includes the city of East Ridge and parts of the Hamilton Place area.
Key issues: Economic growth and local business development, housing affordability, a new sports complex.
Timing: New commissioners take office Sept. 1
Salary: As of fiscal year 2027, commissioners are paid about $28,600 a year.
THE ELECTION
The general election is Aug. 6, and early voting runs July 17-Aug. 1.
WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND
Do you think the school budget is adequately funded?
“I think it’s adequately funded in the sense that there’s only so many dollars that can go around. It’s adequately balanced, we’ll say that. But there’s always room for improvement … there’s been a lot of emphasis on the condition of buildings. I think there needs to also be a lot of emphasis on the condition of our sports facilities. These students, when they come to school, they want to learn, but they’re also excited about the sports they get to play … You don’t see parents parenting like they have traditionally, so now is more important than ever to have teachers and coaches that are being properly paid and able to provide after-school programs for these kids like sports, something to mentor them.”
— Mike Chauncey, Republican
“Simple answer, no. There are a lot of areas where we could move funding around. There’s a lot of deferred maintenance with a lot of our facilities that I know we’re trying to tackle, but when you’re only able to get to one school a year or something, issues keep compounding. We were finally able to give teachers a little bit of a raise this year, but from my understanding, we had to cut a percentage of staff to support teachers. It doesn’t necessarily make their job any easier.”
— Josh Wichman, Democrat
If elected, what major project or initiative do you want to complete within the next four years?
“I’d like to see a mega sports complex down in Camp Jordan. My daughter played volleyball through high school, and she played club ball. We traveled to Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta. It was so expensive, so tiring. If we had a nice megaplex here in town, it would’ve been so nice … I’d also like to see the stadium project have progress with the build-out, and The Bend project, too. I call these recreational spaces, places you can go to, walk around and have free fun.”
— Mike Chauncey, Republican
“I would like to see investment into projects that look at building neighborhoods so they can walk to the grocery store or walk to a park. East Ridge does not have CARTA service. Many people do this every day — they have to walk to Brainerd Road to access CARTA, and Moore Road is the only road that has sidewalks the entire way there. Just looking at things like that. If you give people options, they will take them. But if you don’t, then we’re forced into driving cars all the time, which leads to congestion and frustrates everybody.”
— Josh Wichman, Democrat
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.