Four challenging Chattanooga Mayor Berke’s reelection

Four people filed petitions to run against Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s bid for reelection next year, reports the Times Free Press. The qualifying deadline was Thursday and candidates have until Dec. 22 to withdraw their names.

City Councilman Larry Grohn, who has aggressively challenged the Berke administration on a number of fronts, is opting to run against Berke rather than seek reelection to his Council seat. He had announced his candidacy earlier.

“An entire generation of our city is in desperate need of education, opportunity, and hope,” Grohn said in released statement in November.

The Berke campaign has rebuffed Grohn’s attacks.

“One of our opponents is focused on using misleading claims to divide us, but the reality is Mayor Berke has spent the past four years changing the way our police department works with the community, reducing robberies and property crimes to an all-time low, and protecting women from domestic violence,” Tyler Yount, Berke campaign manager said in an email.

Berke faces three other challengers, including three-time former city councilman David Crockett, Chris Long and Gail M. Francis, former chair of the Sign Language Interpreting Department at Tennessee Temple University.