NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty secured a second term Tuesday, defeating Democrat Marquita Bradshaw in a repeat of their 2020 matchup, while one of the night’s biggest surprises came in a Middle Tennessee U.S. House seat.
Six years ago Hagerty beat Bradshaw with about 62% of the vote to her 35%. Bradshaw, who leads an environmental nonprofit, ran this time on affordable housing, health care and protecting the state’s natural resources. Tennessee has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1990.
Hagerty, a Sumner County native and an Eagle Scout, built a business career before politics, including three years in Tokyo for a consulting firm and later work as a venture capital and private equity investor. From 2011 to 2014 he served in the governor’s cabinet as commissioner of Economic and Community Development, and he later was U.S. ambassador to Japan during President Donald Trump’s first term. In the Senate he has backed the administration’s deportation push and supported coal and nuclear power.
In the 4th Congressional District, Democrat Victoria Broderick unseated Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who had held the seat since 2011. Final unofficial results from state officials put Broderick ahead by just 280 votes. The outcome is a sharp reversal from 2024, when DesJarlais beat her by more than 100,000 votes with nearly 70% of the total.
Broderick, a logistics and technology professional from Lincoln County, campaigned on housing costs, rural hospitals, gun safety, limits on government surveillance and universal voluntary pre-K. The seat was part of a map the legislature redrew earlier this year to favor Republicans.
Elsewhere, Republican state Rep. Johnny Garrett won the open 6th District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. John Rose, and U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps won a full term in the 7th District a year after taking it in a special election.
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