{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nCodie Pate is an Independent candidate for Hawkins County Commission District 2 on the August 6, 2026 ballot [1]. He is running through the GoodParty platform, pledging to run outside the two-party system, accept majority grassroots funding, and maintain transparency and accountability [2].\n\n## Career\nPate is a member of United Citizens of Hawkins County (UCHC), a local civic watchdog group [3]. In summer 2024 he initiated an individual effort to clean up the North Holston River after noticing significant trash and tire accumulation while kayaking; on July 27, 2024, he led a UCHC- and Care NET-organized volunteer cleanup that removed 176 tires from a half-acre section of the river, coordinating kayak crews, barge operations, and loading teams [4][5]. He described the effort as an ongoing commitment, noting more than 50 additional tires remained stacked and 50-60 more were still buried in the same river section [4][5].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [Hawkins County Sample Ballot, August 6, 2026](https://hawkinscountytn.gov/pdfs/elections/sample_ballot.pdf) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-18\n[2] [Codie Pate for Hawkins County Commission \u2014 District 2 (GoodParty)](https://goodparty.org/candidate/codie-pate/hawkins-county-commission-district-2) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-18\n[3] [Hawkins voters have plenty of options (Rogersville Review)](https://www.therogersvillereview.com/news/article_a72b5833-32a6-408c-84a9-21f45511c5f5.html) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-18\n[4] ['My personal mission': Volunteers remove 176 tires from Holston River (UCHC)](https://www.uchc-tn.org/post/my-personal-mission-volunteers-remove-176-tires-from-holston-river) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-18\n[5] ['My personal mission': Volunteers remove 176 tires from Holston River \u2014 first-person column by Codie Pate (Rogersville Review)](https://www.therogersvillereview.com/columns/article_aacce60a-4f5c-11ef-9f1f-bf539ca7fb4c.html) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-18\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_commission_district_2","county":"Hawkins","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"TN","title":"County Commissioner District 2"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"CODIE","fullname":"CODIE PATE","lastname":"PATE","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_commission_district_2","contest_title":"County Commissioner District 2","county":"Hawkins","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_commission_district_2","office_title":null,"party":"I","pgr":"general","state":"TN"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_commission_district_2","contest_title":"County Commissioner District 2","county":"Hawkins","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_commission_district_2","office_title":null,"party":"I","pgr":"general","state":"TN"},"party":"I","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_commission_district_2","office_title":"County Commissioner District 2","state":"TN","terms":[]}],"summary":"Independent candidate for Hawkins County Commission District 2; UCHC watchdog member who organized a July 2024 Holston River cleanup removing 176 tires.","terms":[],"token":"Hnw3bgVQdp"}