Sen.-elect Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)

Date of birth: Aug. 14, 1959
Residence: Nashville, Tenn.
Occupation: former U.S. ambassador
Education: B.A., J.D., Vanderbilt University
Family: wife, Chrissy; four children

Bill Hagerty began his career in financial services, serving as CEO of private equity investment platform ALAM. He served on former President George H.W. Bush’s Council on Competitiveness and also worked in the office of the vice president and NASA during the Bush administration.

He served as then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s national finance chair in 2007 and 2008, and later worked for Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential transition team ahead of the 2008 general election. Four years later, when Romney was the party’s nominee, Hagerty served on his transition team.

Hagerty served as then-Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s (R) commissioner of economic development from 2011 to 2015. After working on President Trump’s Tennessee presidential campaign and transition team in 2016, Hagerty was appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan. He resigned in 2019 to run for Senate after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) announced his retirement.

After receiving Trump’s endorsement, Hagerty won the GOP primary with 50.75 percent of the vote, defeating the closest runner-up, physician Manny Sethi, by 11 points. He defeated Democratic nominee Marquita Bradshaw in the general election.

-Zack Budryk