Trump-endorsed candidate Bill Hagerty wins Tennessee Senate GOP primary

Bill Hagerty.
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Bill Hagerty won the Tennessee Senate Republican primary on Thursday, defeating the 14 other candidates who hoped to replace retiring GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander.

Hagerty, 60, was President Trump's first ambassador to Japan, and received his endorsement. In recent weeks, the race tightened, as orthopedic surgeon Manny Sethi declared he was the true conservative running, not Hagerty. He pointed to Hagerty's friendship with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and his past work in private equity as proof of this; in turn, Hagerty claimed that because Sethi made a $50 donation to a Democratic candidate, he wasn't trustworthy.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.