Chip Baker will seek a third four-year term on the Hamilton County Commission, his campaign announced Monday.
“Serving Hamilton County is a true honor,” Baker, R-Signal Mountain, said in a press release. “I’ve worked diligently in serving my constituents with conservative principles. I look forward to continuing to do so over the next four years, and I will remain readily accessible to the needs of the taxpayers of Hamilton County.”
Baker said his focus remains on safeguarding property rights, ensuring controlled, responsible growth, accelerating infrastructure needs and keeping families safe.
Baker and his wife moved to Chattanooga for his job as the administrator of the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in 1992. He has served and volunteered on a number of boards and organizations, including the Hamilton County Board of Education for 12 years.
During his time on the school board, Baker helped push for the construction of Signal Mountain Middle-High School, a 262,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2008 with a price tag of approximately $40 million. In a phone call, Baker described the project as a community-driven process, but it made him realize he could make a difference.
“The only reason I do it is to give back,” Baker said. “I’ve got not other ambition, no other office I’m seeking. I do County Commission because it’s a way to give back to the community that has given us so much.”
Baker now serves as a commissioner on the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority and is a member of the Downtown Rotary. On the County Commission, he has been elected multiple times by his fellow commissioners as the chair and vice chair of the board.
Baker has a master’s degree in health services administration from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster. He and his wife, Karlette, have four grown children who all graduated from Signal Mountain Middle-High School and the University of Tennessee. Baker will be on the May 2026 Republican primary ballot.
Looking back at the past four years on the County Commission, Baker said he’s collaborated on passing balanced budgets.
“I look at myself as a manager because I’ve been in management for 40 years,” he said. “I’ve got a book at home that’s about 4 or 5 inches thick of all the questions my constituents have had. I look at myself as a problem solver.”
In terms of tangibile achievements, Baker pointed to the commission’s approval of financing for a new minor league baseball stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts in the South Broad District. Officials have also repaved and added reflectors on the W Road, a commuter route between Chattanooga and Signal Mountain with three sharp switchback turns.
“It’s not grand and glorious things,” Baker said. “It’s nuts and bolts of how to operate a county and how to take care of the people.”
Baker is one of a handful of people who have announced plans to run for an elected position in Hamilton County government next year. Tonya Sadler, the vice mayor of Collegedale, will run for Chair Jeff Eversole’s seat on the board. Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp also intends to seek four more years as the county’s top executive.
Candidates can pick up petitions for the county primary elections beginning Dec. 22. The qualifying deadline is Feb. 19.
Contact business reporter David Floyd at [email protected] or 423-757-6249.
Read the original story published by the Times Free Press here.