Besley set to challenge Graham in rematch for Hamilton County Commission seat

timesfreepress.com · Feb 15, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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After losing by a couple dozen votes last time, Montrell Besley is running once again for a Hamilton County Commission seat.Besley, 44, has gotten his papers approved to run as a Democrat for the District 11 seat, which encompasses a variety of neighborhoods in Chattanooga and beyond: Lookout Valley, St. Elmo, Alton Park, a part of Missionary Ridge and a section of Brainerd, plus Lookout Mountain. Besley was born and raised in Alton Park, he said. He's raised his family there -- three children and one grandchild.Besley's first foray into politics was a 2016 race for a seat on the county's school board, when he lost "by a lot," he said -- but his run for commission was more fruitful. Besley challenged Republican Joe Graham, the sitting commissioner, in 2022 after winning the Democratic primary. He lost by 20 votes."I'm here again," Besley said during an interview. "You don't have a choice when you lose by 20 votes. You've got to keep pushing."Graham, in the meantime, has sat as the District 11 commissioner for the past four years. Before that, he served two terms representing a district that included Red Bank, North Chattanooga and Lookout Valley, and then he was ousted by current Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank. That district no longer exists after county maps were redrawn in 2021, adding two more districts, including Graham's current seat, and shrinking the boundaries of existing ones.(SIGN UP: Get the weekly politics newsletter, "Open Door," in your email box by going to timesfreepress.com/opendoor)District 11 is the only one that has mismatched political parties representing its seat on the commission and the school board. Graham is a Republican, and the school board representative, Jill Black, is a Democrat. All other districts are represented by either two Republicans or two Democrats.Besley views the area he's running to represent as one of the areas with the biggest economic disparities in the county, he said. It's important that someone from a predominantly Black neighborhood like Alton Park run to support lower-income communities, he said."You put the healthiest and most thriving community in the same district as the poorest and most unhealthy community," Besley said. "Where are we meeting in the middle? We still haven't done that. There's a lot of promises made over the last four years that didn't happen."He aims to provide the same support to neighborhoods like Alton Park, alongside St. Elmo, East Lake and Missionary Ridge, that places like Lookout Mountain have had for decades, he said. He's noticed efforts to support Lookout Valley, but even there, the area still needs better school improvements, Besley said.(READ MORE: New federal lead contamination standards may affect Chattanooga neighborhoods)Besley has split his time between the public and private sectors during his professional career. He has worked for the city of Chattanooga across multiple departments, and he has also worked as the director of community engagement for the Chattanooga Preparatory School. Currently, he owns and operates Chattanooga Rolling Video Games and is also the landlord of one commercial and several residential properties.One of his first jobs was teaching at Woodmore Elementary School. He considers that his foundation, he said.One of his top priorities, if elected, is improving conditions for teachers in the county, he said. He'd like to find ways to better support them, including raising salaries. He doesn't think the county needs to raise taxes to do so, he said. Instead, the county government should look at ways to cut down on its own costs, he said, and funnel more money to the school district."I think we've still got some fat that we can cut before potentially raising taxes," Besley said. "I would want to look at what we're not using first."He also would like to find ways to better invest in Alton Park, he said. He remembers when the main streets passing through the neighborhood were filled with local business activity, littered with corner stores, beauty salons, laundromats and recreation centers.Now, the roads are just pass-throughs to other parts of the city, he said.(READ MORE: East Chattanooga, Alton Park lots again seeking affordable housing proposals)"Thirty-eighth Street is like the Indy 500," Besley said, "and Alton Park Boulevard is like NASCAR."He wants to revitalize the neighborhoods he grew up in, he said. For him, that starts with affordable housing and a stricter eye when it comes to development, he said, to make sure people aren't priced out of their communities.Besley wants to stave off gentrification, he said. He'd like to see more homes built in the $100,000 to $250,000 range -- he doesn't want the area to become the next Highland Park, he said.He's noticed how the Black community has started to retreat from Chattanooga, pushed out of historic neighborhoods because of rising property values and, therefore, higher property taxes, he said. Plenty of people he knows went to school out of the city and then didn't come back, he said."A lot of this development," Besley said, "is really hurting the Black community."He wants to make sure his community is properly heard and represented, he said.Besley will likely face Graham in the Aug. 6 general election. Neither has a challenger in the primaries, which will be held May 5. The candidate qualifying deadline is Thursday.Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.