Chauncey Edges McClendon for District 8 Seat

Mike Chauncey will be the new District 8 Commissioner in Hamilton County.

Chauncey, the current Vice Mayor of East Ridge, edged the Tucker McClendon, the Chairman of the Hamilton County School Board, 1,285 votes to 1,137, in Tuesday’s Republican Primary. Chauncey has no opposition in the August 4 general election.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am,” Chauncey told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “We’re just so excited about the outcome of the election, and we’re looking forward to working with the new mayor …”

In the race for Hamilton County Mayor, Weston Wamp received 14,425 votes to Sebrena Smedley’s 14,104. Matt Hullander finished in third with 12,170 votes. Wamp will now square off with Democrat Matt Adams in the general election.

Wamp’s sister, Coty Wamp, trounced incumbent Neal Pinkston in the race for District Attorney General. Wamp, the general counsel for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, received 27,925 votes to Pinkston’s 11,388. Coty will now face John Allen Brooks in the general election.

Katie Perkins defeated Sandy Norris Smith for the Democratic nomination in the District 8 School Board race. The final numbers showed Perkins with 274 votes, while Smith garnered 155. Perkins will face Republican Larry Grohn in the general election.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.