Hamilton County Democratic mayoral candidate Mark Herndon has acknowledged his “poor choice of words” after a text message he admitted to sending last October to all seven Republican members of the district’s school board recently came to light. l
Herndon wrote texts that stated in part: “Your children are humiliated to be your kids!” and “You’re better off if we were to lynch you, tie weight to your neck and throw you in the TN river.”
His words were similar to the Bible verse Matthew 18:6, which reads, “If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Speaking with Local 3 in Chattanooga this week Herndon admitted to the texts and said he particularly regretted using the word “lynch.”
“I used the word out of disappointment [and] disillusion, that I understand has some significant negative implications, in particular in this country, because of our history,” Herndon said.
The texts were sent three months before Herndon announced his candidacy for County Mayor in January. Herndon ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in May. In the August 6 general election, Herndon is facing incumbent Mayor Weston Wamp, who ran unopposed in his Republican primary.
The threatening texts were sent amidst a partisan debate over mental health services in the school district, following a vote last August to end a longtime contract with a counseling service provided by Centerstone. The counseling service was only available with parental consent and came at no charge to the district. Much of the counseling focused on LGBTQ issues.
Herndon has based most of his recent political activism on being motivated after his 14-year-old child, Silas, died by suicide. Herndon has said that Silas, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, struggled with identity.
In the months after the death of his child Herndon regularly attended school board meetings and urged board members to bring Centerstone’s counseling services back to classrooms.
Throughout the months-long debate about reinstating Centerstone several board members voiced concerns regarding material targeted towards the LGBTQ+ community, which was previously posted on the provider’s website.
Board members ultimately voted unanimously in November 2025 to reinstate Centerstone and made services from four other providers available as well.
Herndon sent the text to school board members last October in the midst of the debate over termination of the program.
“Our kids were being mistreated, literally in the name of God and faith,” he said. “I was very upset, you know, but the fact that now people are speaking of it as a threat is pretty silly… This is something that happened [and] went by, obviously nothing came of it because there was nothing.”
Board member Jodi Schaffer said she felt threatened and promptly filed a report with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
“I did report it when the incident occurred. However, I did not report it at this time,” Schaffer said.
Despite her concern, Schaffer told Channel 3 she didn’t choose to pursue anything further with law enforcement last Fall.
“He was not in a healthy emotional state at that time, and the Centerstone debate didn’t help with that. At that time, it was creating high emotions,” she said. “I did personally feel threatened, especially because he had called my first name out at a meeting. So, I did feel threatened… In his dark hour, and as a parent myself, I couldn’t imagine the grief he was going through, and I chose to extend grace to him and not to pursue it any further beyond helping him deescalate in this moment.”
Board Chairman Joe Smith said he also wasn’t sure how the texts have now been circulated to the media, eight months after Herndon sent them. Like Schaffer, he says he was also was frightened about what Herndon might do.
“I’ve been on board for 10 years, [and I’m] not running this time for re-election. 10 years is long enough. I’ve never experienced anything quite like this,” Smith said. “We were fighting and trying to give parents choice and to give them better mental health services than we had in place over the last 10 years, and in the middle of trying to do that, then we have someone like this threatening our lives.”
Smith also made clear that he does not believe Herndon is fit to serve as mayor. “To see that this same man wants to be our county mayor is even more frightening,” he said. “[I] want to make sure that the community understands what you’re supporting — what a lot of people are supporting.”
Herdon said his remarks were sparked by emotion, but his frustration with current leadership remains.
“I used the word out of emotion, out of frustration — but that frustration is the same that I carry now,” he said. “My emotions need to be more guarded than they were at that moment. It was a very difficult time in my life.”
Herndon is relying on sympathy generated from the death of his son as a cornerstone of his campaign. Democrats have rallied behind him in hopes of getting a political foothold in traditionally deep “red” Chattanooga. Some Political observers in Chattanooga have expressed concern that a low voter turn out in August could give Herndon a chance to win, along with several liberal Democrats vying for school board and other local offices.
Steve Gill is editor and Publisher of TriStar Daily.
