Republican · Tennessee Senate · 2026
Bill Hagerty
Hagerty's business career took him to five continents, including three years living in Tokyo.
Biography
Bill Hagerty grew up in Sumner County with a schoolteacher mother and a father who worked in road construction.1 His early jobs included baling hay, raising livestock and shoveling asphalt alongside his father.1 An Eagle Scout, he now lives in Davidson County with his wife, Chrissy, and they have four children.2
Hagerty began his business career at the Boston Consulting Group, working across five continents and spending three years based in Tokyo.2 He later worked in venture capital and private equity, including executive and board roles at companies.2 From 2011 to 2014, he served as Tennessee's economic development commissioner before later becoming U.S. ambassador to Japan.2
Elected to the Senate in 2020, Hagerty serves on committees overseeing banking, foreign relations, appropriations and Senate administration.2 He sponsored the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, which established a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.3 These are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable monetary value.3
His reelection campaign backs Trump's agenda, stronger border enforcement, limits on federal regulation and policies supporting domestic investment.1 He also emphasizes national security and competition with China in economic and technology policy.1 He faces Democrat Marquita Bradshaw on November 3 in a rematch of their 2020 contest, with voters deciding whether to return him for a second Senate term.45
Record and controversies
Legal expense trust
Hagerty created a legal expense trust in December 2025 to contest the collection of his phone records during the January 6 investigation, and later complained to the FCC about Verizon.6 Tennessee Lookout reported that he had not been charged with a crime.6 A related November funding provision allowing senators to seek $500,000 over phone record collection was repealed in the January 2026 funding legislation.6