Republican Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett announced Sunday he is willing to fill GOP Tennessee Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
Burchett appeared on Blackburn’s shortlist of possible replacements to fill her seat after she is sworn in as governor in January 2027, sources told the Nashville Banner. The Tennessee congressman also confirmed on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing” he would run for Senate to permanently fill Blackburn’s seat if she does not appoint him.
“I think I’ve got a good shot at it. I’ve prayed about it, I would absolutely take on that role and if not, I would absolutely run for it in two years,” Burchett told host Peter Doocy.
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Other Tennessee Republicans, including Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, and former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, also made Blackburn’s list, according to the Nashville Banner.
Blackburn won her gubernatorial race against Democratic Tennessee gubernatorial nominee Jerri Green by a three-point margin, 45% to 42.9%. A special election will take place to fill her seat in 2028.
Burchett first assumed office in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2019. He won reelection to a fourth term serving Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional Districtduring in Tuesday’s election by a 16-point margin. President Donald Trump won the district by roughly 33.9 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
Burchett chairs the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The Tennessee Republican has notably taken a stand against automated license plate readers. He introduced the “Protection Against Mass Surveillance Act” in July, which would ban federal agencies from using automated surveillance. If passed, no agency would be permitted to “purchase, deploy, operate, access, or contract any automated surveillance system.”
Burchett was among 19 Republicans to vote against temporarily extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to collect and search American citizens’ data without a warrant if they were in contact with targeted noncitizens.
Republicans lost their majorities in the House and Senate during Tuesday’s midterm elections as voters nationwide soured over political corruption, Trump’s handling of the economy and the Iran War.
(DCNF)
