Democrat · Tennessee's 6th District · 2026
Mike Croley
Croley's working life has taken him from the Navy to Tennessee's state parks.
Biography
Mike Croley and his wife, Bethany, are raising three young children, and he also has an adult son living in the district.1 Bethany works in their local school system.1 Croley grew up in Illinois and Kentucky and enlisted in the Navy after graduating from high school in Hartford, Kentucky.1
An ROTC scholarship helped him earn a civil and environmental engineering degree at Vanderbilt University, and he received his Navy commission in 2005.1 After military service, he worked on energy efficiency through the Tennessee Valley Authority's EnergyRight program, helping households and businesses reduce utility use.1
Croley later served as a Tennessee State Park ranger and earned a master's in public safety at Tennessee Tech.1 A Presidential Management Fellowship included work at the State and Agriculture departments.2 He also worked at NOAA, and says losing that position during the 2025 federal cuts helped prompt his congressional run.3
Croley's platform calls for ending broad tariffs, increasing affordable housing, strengthening labor rights and limiting large investment firms' housing holdings.3 He also proposes improving veterans' access to health care and increasing the number of seats in the House of Representatives.3 He also proposes banning congressional stock trading and removing the Social Security payroll tax cap.1 Croley faces Republican Johnny Garrett and two independents.4