{"id":1450728,"date":"2022-04-22T15:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T19:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1450728"},"modified":"2022-04-22T15:46:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T19:46:02","slug":"competitive-gop-county-mayoral-primary-turns-into-million-dollar-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/competitive-gop-county-mayoral-primary-turns-into-million-dollar-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitive GOP County Mayoral Primary Turns Into Million-Dollar Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcompetitive-gop-county-mayoral-primary-turns-into-million-dollar-battle%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1450728&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/Untitled-design-27.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A competitive battle in a Tennessee GOP mayoral primary has led to a three-way, million-dollar-plus battle to control the future direction of a key conservative region.<\/p>\n<p>Republican candidates Matt Hullander, Sabrena Smedley, and Weston Wamp have collectively raised more than $1.23 million toward the Hamilton County primary race, with voting on May 3.<\/p>\n<p>The vacant seat left by current Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, who is stepping down after this term, has become a conservative battlefield as the county of more than 367,000 residents fights to maintain its Republican identity after back-to-back mayoral contests won by Democrats. Hamilton County is located in the southern part of the state, borders Georgia, and its county seat is Chattanooga.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHullander, former CEO of the home-improvement company HullCo., raised and spent the most. He reported total receipts of $508,000, a figure that includes a $50,000 loan the businessman made to his campaign earlier in his effort, which began in mid-2021,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/hamilton-county-gop-mayoral-candidates-150200256.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to<\/a> the Chattanooga Times Free Press.<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton County Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley reported\u00a0 $387,770 through the first quarter of 2022. Wamp, son of former Tennessee Republican Rep. Zach Wamp, reported $342,756.<\/p>\n<p>Just one Democratic candidate, Matt Adams, is on the ballot in the Republican-heavy race. The Chattanoogan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chattanoogan.com\/2022\/4\/12\/447051\/Matt-Hullander-Has-Raised-Over-500000.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> Adams raising just $8,433 through March 31.<\/p>\n<p>Wamp, who has lost two previous GOP elections for his father\u2019s former congressional seat, claims he is confident the outcome will be different in his latest campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn December, our campaign wrote a detailed, $330,000 budget that would allow us to do everything we needed to do to win. We are grateful to report that we fully funded our campaign in late March and have now raised more than $350,000 in donations for the primary. We have the resources needed to win,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chattanoogan.com\/2022\/4\/12\/447051\/Matt-Hullander-Has-Raised-Over-500000.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> The Chattanoogan.<\/p>\n<p>Smedley also displayed confidence ahead of the competitive primary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHamilton County wants a mayor who\u2019s ready for the job from day one, someone with experience in both business and government,\u201d Smedley <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/hamilton-county-gop-mayoral-candidates-150200256.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the Times Free Press, noting she is not a full-time politician.<\/p>\n<p>Hullander, the current fundraising leader, has been endorsed by the district\u2019s GOP Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatt Hullander is clearly the best choice to lead Hamilton County. In today\u2019s political climate, it is rare to find a person with the character, business acumen, and devotion to Hamilton County which I see In Matt. Over the years I\u2019ve watched Matt grow in his personal and professional life, expanding the Hullco business enterprise, and taking the Hullander name into new ventures for the benefit of our community. He holds the skills and temperament to succeed, and I believe he will lead our community in an exemplary form,\u201d Fleischmann said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chattanoogan.com\/2022\/3\/9\/444950\/Chuck-Fleischmann-Endorses-Matt.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n<p>Hullander has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chattanoogan.com\/2021\/12\/1\/439325\/Fulmer-Calls-Matt-Hullander-A-True.asp]\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">endorsed<\/a> by former University of Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer, who called the candidate \u201ca true Hamilton County success story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/utm.io\/ueuP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member now and join our mission<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A competitive battle in a Tennessee GOP mayoral primary has led to a three-way, million-dollar-plus battle to control the future direction of a key conservative region.Republican candidates Matt Hullander, Sabrena<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":1450751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1450728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1450751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1450728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1450728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1450728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}