Top story
Early voting runs through Oct. 29 | Communities
Ballots will contain candidates for Tennessee governor, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and state Senate and House of Representatives. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Republican · 3 November 2026
Bill Hagerty
United States Senator from Tennessee (since 2021)
Bill Hagerty, a Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee since 2021 and former ambassador to Japan, is seeking a second term in 2026 in a rematch with Democrat Marquita Bradshaw.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Bill Hagerty.
Latest coverage
Live News
Recent media coverage for Bill Hagerty.
-
Hagerty seems a lock for second term in Senate
Staff File Photo / U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, left, speaks with Miller Industries CEO William G. Miller II during a 2025 tour.
-
Election 2026: Early voting for Tennessee’s November 3 general election is underway
The page covers Tennessee’s 2026 gubernatorial race and notes that early voting for the November 3 general election is underway.
WSMV
Green -
GOP’s Blackburn releases AI Kendrick Lamar video, to some criticism
The Hill reports that Sen. Bill Hagerty is involved in a campaign video for Marsha Blackburn, who is running for governor in Tennessee.
-
Early Voting starts today in Coffee County
The article notes that early voting in Coffee County has begun and highlights the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee.
-
Early voting for statewide, Winfield elections begins Wednesday
The piece notes that early voting for statewide and Winfield elections begins Wednesday, with incumbent U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) up for re-election.
More coverage 1
-
Americans For Prosperity Names Senator Bill Hagerty a 2026 “Pioneer for Prosperity” Award Recipient - AFP-TN
Leadership on the GENIUS Act to establish a regulatory framework for emerging financial technologies, which AFP supported and helped become law in 2025.
No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- August 14, 1959
- Education
- Madisonville North Hopkins High School (graduated 1977)
Vanderbilt University (Bachelor of Arts in economics and business administration, 1981)
Vanderbilt Law School (Juris Doctor, 1984)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Hagerty was born on August 14, 1959, and comes from Gallatin, Tennessee, in Sumner County.
He graduated in 1977 from Madisonville North Hopkins High School in Kentucky, then earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and business administration at Vanderbilt University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor at Vanderbilt Law School in 1984.
His first employer was Boston Consulting Group, which posted him to Tokyo for three years, and he served as an economic adviser and White House Fellow under President George H. W. Bush.
He then moved into private equity and co-founded the investment firm Hagerty Peterson & Company, where he was a managing director.
Career
Hagerty was a national finance chair of Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign. From 2011 to 2014 he led the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development as commissioner in Governor Bill Haslam's cabinet.
He also founded and led the Nashville MLS Steering Committee, whose bid secured a Major League Soccer franchise for the city in December 2017. In August 2016 he became director of appointments for Donald Trump's presidential transition team.
Trump nominated him as ambassador to Japan on March 27, 2017; the Senate confirmed him 86 to 12 on July 13, and he took the oath on July 27, 2017, as the 30th U.S. ambassador to Japan. He announced his resignation on July 16, 2019, to run for the Senate.
Seeking the seat left open by Lamar Alexander's retirement, Hagerty won the Republican primary on August 6, 2020, and defeated Democrat Marquita Bradshaw in November by 1,840,926 votes to 1,040,691, taking office on January 3, 2021. In the Senate he drafted the GENIUS Act, which sets up a regulatory framework for stablecoins and which Trump signed into law on July 18, 2025.
2026 race
Hagerty is running for a second term in the election of November 3, 2026. He ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in the August 6 primary. His Democratic opponent is activist Marquita Bradshaw, who won her party's nomination with 54.8% of the vote over former state party director Maria Brewer, setting up a rematch of their 2020 contest.