Kyle HedrickKyle Hedrick, the governor's judicial appointee to Hamilton County Circuit Court, announced his campaign Wednesday to run in the Republican primary election in May.
Hedrick now joins family law attorney Catherine White in the 2018 race. A third contender, Joe DeGaetano, picked up qualifying papers in November but hasn't turned them in to the Election Commission yet.
Hedrick, a practicing attorney in the area for nearly 30 years, said serving on the Circuit Court "is one of the biggest honors of my professional career."
"My job description, as I see it, is quite simple," he said. "Treat everyone with the utmost dignity and respect while taking all care to see that the law is applied as legislated by our representatives - not as legislated from the bench."
Hedrick received his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1987 after earning a bachelor's degree from Lipscomb University three years earlier, according to a news release his campaign sent out Wednesday.
At the time of his appointment, Hedrick served as the administrative hearing officer for the cities of East Ridge, Collegedale and Red Bank. He also was recently selected to be the hearing officer for the city of Chattanooga, according to the release.
Since 2001, Hedrick has been in practice at Ramer & Hedrick in Hixson.
Hedrick was one of nine candidates who vied for the Circuit Court position when Judge Neil Thomas announced his retirement in May. From there, an appointed judicial commission picked Hedrick, Jennifer Peck and Jim Exum III for Gov. Bill Haslam's consideration. Haslam picked Hedrick earlier this month, and he was sworn in to the position last week.
So far, Peck or Exum haven't picked up qualifying papers. The deadline is February, while early voting for the primary begins April 11.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.