President Donald Trump has endorsed Bill Hagerty, the current ambassador to Japan, in the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee.
“Tennessee loving Bill Hagerty, who was my Tennessee Victory Chair and is now the very outstanding Ambassador to Japan, will be running for the U.S. Senate. He is strong on crime, borders and our Second Amendment. Loves our military and our vets. Has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon.
Tennessee loving Bill Hagerty, who was my Tennessee Victoy Chair and is now the very outstanding Ambassador to Japan, will be running for the U.S. Senate. He is strong on crime, borders & our 2nd A. Loves our Military & our Vets. Has my Complete & Total Endorsement!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
The announcement comes a day after both former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced that they would not be entering the race. Hagerty will run for the seat currently held by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who announced in December that he would not seek reelection in 2020.
On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report, Club for Growth Chairman David McIntosh discussed a potential Hagerty candidacy with the hosts.
“He’s done a critical job over there without an ambassador of North Korea. He’s been a key diplomat in a very high-stakes negotiation with North Korea. So as a Tennessean, he would be a favorite one that people would like. You’ve got a lot of good options and it will be interesting to see how it all sorts out,” said McIntosh.
Hagerty previously served in Haslam’s administration as the director of economic development, and has ties to both the Tennessee Republican establishment and the Trump administration, as The Tennessee Star reported. Prior to entering politics, Hagerty made his name as a successful and wealthy investment banker.
Vanderbilt surgeon Dr. Manni Sethi has also announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination, but he’s an inexperienced candidate with little public record and uncertain funding.
Hagerty has yet to make a statement on his candidacy, making his unofficial entrance into the race a tweet from the president.
He is expected to announce his resignation as U.S. Ambassador to Japan within the next several days. Only after he leaves federal service will he make a formal announcement
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Trump can be his own worst enemy. He pays too much attention to people who are not for him and his policies and can’t be trusted. He has just endorsed a Haslam, Alexander and Corker minion for Senate in Tennessee even before candidates have even announced. We don’t need another Corker-Alexander in the Senate!
Their campaign for Hagerty has already started by calling him a “centralist” moderate that can help bring the conservatives and liberals (RINOS) in the Senate together. What a crock of bull! He is out of the anti-Trump fraction led by Haslam in Tennessee and was nowhere to be found in 2016 until Trump became the nominee. Six years is a long time to be represented by another senator who does not represent Tennessee values. He is directly out of the “establishment” crowd. Hagerty previously served in Haslam’s administration as the director of economic development, and has ties to both the Tennessee Republican establishment and the Trump administration.
The voters of Tennessee do not need anyone, including the President, to dictate who we should vote for to represent us in this important position. This is a conservative state and we need a real conservative that we can trust. Hagerty is not that person.