Does recent political infighting between Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and other local officials over property taxes signal ambition for higher office?
Speaking to the GOP Pachyderm Club last week in Chattanooga, Wamp launched broadsides at the city mayors of Chattanooga and Red Bank. He called the property tax rates in Chattanooga and area municipalities “draconian” in remarks to Republicans at the annual fundraiser.
Wamp also voiced his frustrations over Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, and his proposal to freeze property taxes for older adults.
At the Monday evening event last week, Wamp said taxation is the most political and partisan issue that plays out in local government.
“These are draconian increases in the way that your property is taxed,” Wamp said to a room of Republican elected officials, party members and veterans gathered at the Harrison Ruritan Club. “These are not the kind of increases you need to stave off inflation. Just let’s be on the same page there. Like inflation, it is one thing. Fifty percent in four or five years is a whole different thing.”
Wamp was referencing, in part, a 52% property tax increase in Red Bank in 2023.
A week earlier, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said he hopes to raise about $50 million in revenue by lifting the city’s property tax rate from a state-mandated 1.55% to 1.99%. Kelly claims it is intended to deal with inflationary costs the city is facing and pay for raises and salary increases for police and firefighters.
Wamp questioned the need for the increase, noting that it exceeds what is necessary to meet inflation. Wamp said that “the proposed number for what property taxes would be…is well more than what was originally needed for — or originally said to be needed for — law enforcement and fire pay. And again, where’s that money going?”
The majority of Hamilton County residents would agree that “if you’re going to tax people, particularly tax their property, at the bare minimum, they want to know where every single dollar is going,” Wamp said.
“There’s this assumption that I see in almost every meeting that I’m in with the city of Chattanooga,” Wamp said. “For example, that the more money they’ve got, means the more stuff they’re going to do.”
Wamp has been Mayor of Hamilton County since 2022. He was the youngest Mayor in Hamilton County history when he was first elected at age 34. His sister, Coty Wamp, currently serves as Hamilton County District Attorney.
His father, Zach Wamp, represented the Chattanooga area in Congress from 1995-2011. Zach Wamp ran for Tennessee Governor in 2010, finishing second in a three-way GOP primary to Bill Haslam, who went on to be elected Governor and serve two terms.
Wamp’s potential ambitions for higher office appear limited at present. The current Chattanooga-area Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, 62, shows no signs of leaving office soon. Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty is running for reelection in 2026 for another six-year term with no real opposition on either side of the political aisle.
The state’s other U.S Senator, Marsha Blackburn, is running for governor in 2026 and if she is successful she will appoint her successor. If she loses, she will have four years remaining in her Senate term.
Wamp could be angling for consideration for that Senate appointment, or to run against whoever secures it in 2028 for the remaining two years in Blackburn‘s term. Knoxville area Congressman Tim Burchett has expressed interest in that potential appointment. So has current Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs.
Hagerty was on the short list for appointment as either Secretary of State or Treasury Secretary by President Donald Trump. He would certainly be a strong candidate for those positions if a Republican follows Donald Trump into the White House, which would create a Senate vacancy in Tennessee.
In the meantime, the war of words generated by the ambitious Wamp over property taxes merits close and continued attention.
Steve Gill is the publisher of TriStar Daily and is a national and international political analyst and commentator.
