Andrew Lawrence Berke is an American attorney and Tennessee politician. He is the Mayor of Chattanooga. He is a member of the Democratic Party and represented Hamilton and Marion counties in the 10th district as state senator from 2007 to 2012. On March 5, 2013, he became Chattanooga's Mayor Elect, and was inaugurated on April 15, 2013.
Early life and education
Berke was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Marvin and Karen Berke. He has one sister, Julie. He attended Rivermont Elementary, Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he was a standout tennis player, and Stanford University, where he met his wife, Monique. He currently lives in Chattanooga with his wife and their two daughters, Hannah and Orly. After graduating from Stanford with honors, Berke worked as a legislative assistant for U.S. Congressman Bart Gordon. Following his graduation from the University of Chicago Law School, he worked as a law clerk for Judge Deanell Reece Tacha of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Lawrence, Kansas. During this time he also taught at the University of Kansas School of Law as an adjunct professor. Berke returned home to Chattanooga and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1994. He joined his family law practice, Berke, Berke, and Berke in Chattanooga, which was founded in 1934 by his grandfather, the late Harry Berke.
Public office
State Senate
Berke entered a 2007 special election to replace longtime state senator Ward Crutchfield and defeated Republican Oscar Brock, son of former U.S. Senator Bill Brock, with 63% to Brock's 37%. He was sworn into the Tennessee Senate on November 21, 2007. During the 105th General Assembly, Berke served as the secretary of the Senate Education Committee and as a member of the Senate Transportation Committee. Berke won re-election on November 4, 2008, by defeating Republican Oscar Brown. He received over 70% of the vote. As a member of the 106th General Assembly, Senator Berke served as the secretary of the Senate Education Committee and as a member of the Senate Transportation committee. On November 24, 2008, Senator Berke was elected as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
Chattanooga mayoral campaign
On May 8, 2012 Berke officially announced he was running for Mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Berke became Chattanooga's Mayor Elect on March 5, 2013, after receiving 72% of the vote. He was inaugurated as Chattanooga Mayor on April 15, 2013.
First mayoral term
Within the first month of taking office, Berke reorganized city government, merging the Departments of Parks and Recreation and Human Services into a new Department of Youth and Family Development, the Departments of Neighborhood Services and Community Development into a new Department of Economic and Community Development, eliminating the Department of Education, Arts, and Culture, and creating a new Department of Transportation to handle Transportation matters once handled by the Department of Public Works. Within his first year as mayor, Berke formed a task force to reform the City of Chattanooga Police and Fire Pension and overhauled the Pension Plan, saving taxpayers over $227 million while preserving benefits for first responders. During Berke's first term, Chattanooga's unemployment rate fell from a June 2011 high of 9.5% to 4.1% in May 2016, a nine-year low, and the city of Chattanooga created over 8,000 new jobs. On July 14, 2014, Berke joined other local and state officials to announce the Volkswagen Crossblue would be manufactured in Chattanooga, resulting in over 2,000 new jobs for residents. In addition to a boom of manufacturing jobs, Chattanooga's 10 Gigabit fiber optic infrastructure helped fuel wage growth, resulting in the third fastest wage growth in the country for a medium-sized metro area. On January 14, 2015, Berke established an Innovation District, making Chattanooga the first mid-sized city with an innovation district. Since that time, Chattanooga's Innovation District has been a catalyst for change in the city's downtown, resulting in $700 million in new retail, office and residential space, and 868 new business licenses issued in 2016 alone. Under Berke, Chattanooga has received national recognition for its work in digital equity. A new program called Tech Goes Home, modeled after an award-winning program in Boston, ensures equal access to technology by offering technology training, skills, and access to families. In his 2015 State of the City Address, Berke also announced a new partnership with Chattanooga's Electric Power Board to offer discounted high-speed internet access to students on free and reduced lunch through a program called NetBridge. Six months after the launch of the Innovation District, four Marines and a sailor were killed during a terror-inspired attack in Chattanooga. In the hours to follow, Berke called the incident a "nightmare for the city of Chattanooga" and pledged all available resources to aid the FBI in its investigation. Because of his leadership during and following the attack, Berke was invited to lead the U.S. delegation at the first annual Strong Cities Network Global Summit held in Antalya, Turkey, on May 11, 2016. The creation of an Innovation District and his response to the July 16 attack were both cited as factors in Berke's recognition as American City & County's 2015 Municipal Leader of the Year. On December 15, 2015, Berke was recognized by OZY.com as a Rising Star, citing Chattanooga's technology boom as the major factor in the city's turnaround. In 2016, Berke announced new efforts to combat violence including investments in public safety technology and a new Citizen Safety Coalition, a new Office of Early learning and a partnership with United Way to offer early learning scholarships, and a Family Friendly Workplace challenge to get more businesses to adopt policies making their business more friendly for working parents. Berke announced new investments in neighborhoods in 2016 including $6 million for a new Youth and Family Development center in Avondale, $887,000 for a new park at the former Charles A Bell School site in Alton Park, $1.5 million for the cleanup of the old Dixie Yarn Mill in Lupton City, completed $2 million in upgrades of the Wilcox Tunnel in East Chattanooga, and the construction of a new Miller Park District as the gateway to the MLK Neighborhood.
Mayoral re-election campaign
On September 6, 2016, Mayor Berke announced his bid for re-election to a second term as Chattanooga Mayor. Berke's campaign announcement focused on combating gun violence, enhancing workforce development, and expanding the city's focus on early childhood education. Berke won re-election against District 4 City Councilman Larry Grohn, a member of the Chattanooga Tea Party, former District 3 City Councilman and City Sustainability Director under the Littlefield Administration, David Crockett, and housing developer, Chris Long.
