Former City Councilman Yusuf Hakeem to run for Favors' seat

Yusuf Hakeem
Yusuf Hakeem

Former Chattanooga City Councilman Yusuf Hakeem says he will seek the District 28 state House seat now held by Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, who announced her retirement this week.

"If elected, I will fight to ensure the residents of District 28 have opportunities for job training and affordable housing," Hakeem said in a news release announcing his campaign. "Communities that are lacking in these areas are struggling to survive."

He said that as a Chattanooga councilman, he worked with other council members, the Chamber of Commerce and others to bring more and better-paying jobs to the city and county.

"While we were successful in that effort, there is now a gap between workforce skills and employment opportunities," Hakeem said.

The Howard High School and Chattanooga State graduate worked 25 years for General Electric, where he received the G.E. Community Service Award.

He was first elected to the nonpartisan District 9 council seat in 1990 and served until 2005, when Gov. Phil Bredesen named him to the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole. He continued that service under Gov. Bill Haslam until running for and winning the District 9 seat again in 2013.

He served as council chairman during that term but lost his bid for re-election this year in a runoff with Demetrus Coonrod that was marked by nasty exchanges. At one point, he said Coonrod was "unhinged, a pathological liar and crazy," and she responded that he had an anger management problem. Voters sided with Coonrod, giving her 700 votes to Hakeem's 467.

Hakeem said in his announcement that if elected, he will work on some of Favors' key issues, such as TennCare expansion, quality schools, seat restraints on school buses and prison reform.

He said he visited a school in Georgia where students split their day between school and work. The opportunity to work and earn money helped them be more engaged in learning, Hakeem said. He also favors greater access to affordable housing, and said he would "work with local, state and federal officials to find or develop partnerships that will help improve the quality of life for District 28 residents."

Hakeem served on the Chattanooga City School Board for 10 years before his council service, and also has sat on the boards of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center; Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise; Kirby Day Care Center; Chattanooga Community Impact Fund; Tennessee Human Rights Commission; Fortwood Center; Senter School, Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corporation; Chattanooga/Hamilton County Railroad Authority and the Chattanooga-Hamilton County North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization.

He is the recipient of numerous civic awards including the Brainerd Jaycees Leadership Award, Tennessee School Boards Association Award of Recognition, Fortwood Center Leadership Award and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Freedom Fighter Award.

Hakeem is a deacon and member of the men's choir at Second Missionary Baptist Church. He and his wife of 52 years, Baseemah, have four grown children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Favors, a retired registered nurse and health care administrator who served on the Hamilton County Commission before being elected to the Tennessee House in 2004, said she decided not to seek re-election so she could have more time with her mother and her children and grandchildren.

Upcoming Events