B

Editor’s Note: Jamie Carden’s opponent in the upcoming primary Kimberly Coffey declined to participate for a candidate profile story.

Ninth District Hamblen County Commissioner Jamie Carden came in as an outsider in 2025.

After being appointed to replaced Commissioner Dannie Bell after his resignation, Carden has approached the job much like as his full-time job as a civil engineer and part-time coach of the East Hurricanes Middle School baseball team.

Now he wants to continue as a commissioner.

“My wife, Tracy, and I moved to Hamblen County in 2001 and built our home in Whitesburg in 2004 to raise our three sons, Chase, Jonah, and Brett,” Carden said. “We are active members of Russellville Baptist Church in Sunday School, youth, and other activities, where I also serve as a deacon and trustee. With our sons having attended Whitesburg Elementary, East Ridge, and Morristown East, we have been equally active in school academics and athletics.”

Carden has almost 30 years of experience as an engineer. He is also part-owner of a company that employs 180 people across Tennessee.

“As a licensed civil engineer, I have been working in infrastructure, utilities, local government projects, planning and funding,” Carden said. “My work experience has been as a Consulting Engineer with McGill Associates and TH&P; Manager of Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District; City of Morristown and Tennessee Department of Transportation Construction.”

Carden was appointed to the Hamblen County Commission District 9 seat in May 22, 2025. The appointment process included a roll call vote amongst three nominees with Carden receiving nine of the 13 commissioner votes, with primary opponent Kim Coffey receiving two votes.

In a story published in the Citizen Tribune after his appointment, Carden detailed his experience.

“I’ve had a lot of civic involvement, I’ve worked with the City of Morristown engineering department for a while, I was manager of Russellville-Whitesburg Utility District for seven years and they were my employer for 10-plus years,” he said. “I’ve worked for the Tennessee Department of Transportation in different places. I’ve had to make hard decisions. There are a lot of hard decisions coming for Hamblen County whether I’m elected or not.”

Additionally, Carden has been involved in our community in the following roles:

• Gideons International — Treasurer

• Youth Athletics — Canes Middle School Baseball, East Baseball Booster Club, Parks and Recreation coach

• Mentoring — tnAchieves Mentor and Walters State Community College Gifted Program.