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U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett said on Sunday that he wants the U.S. Senate seat that will open when Sen. Marsha Blackburn becomes governor of Tennessee, and that he will run for the seat in 2028 if Blackburn does not appoint him to it.
“It’s totally up to her. I’ve prayed about it. I’d absolutely take on that role. And if not, I would absolutely run for it in two years,” Burchett said during an appearance on Fox News.
Blackburn, who won the governor’s race on Tuesday, November 3, has said she will remain in the Senate until she is sworn in as governor in January, and will then resign and name her own successor. Whoever she appoints will serve until 2028, when voters will choose a senator to serve the remainder of her term, which runs until 2031.
Burchett first made his intentions public at the end of October, when he told Punchbowl News he would “absolutely” begin campaigning against whoever Blackburn appoints if he is not selected. His campaign manager, Thomas McAfee, confirmed to Knox News that Burchett will run for the Senate in 2028 if Blackburn is elected governor.
The Nashville Banner reported on Saturday that Burchett is on Blackburn’s final shortlist of possible replacements, along with former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter. The Banner reported that former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and outgoing Gov. Bill Lee are not being considered.
Burchett is the only person on the shortlist who has openly campaigned for the appointment. He served with Blackburn in the Tennessee Legislature in the 1990s and early 2000s, campaigned for her in more than 60 of the state’s 95 counties, and was at her election watch party on Tuesday night, photographed with her inner circle.
Jacobs, the former professional wrestler known as Kane, is viewed as the favorite for the appointment, according to a report in The Washington Sun citing multiple sources. Jacobs served as Blackburn’s campaign treasurer and was the only rumored Senate pick to join her on stage for her acceptance speech on Election Day.
Blackburn defeated Democratic nominee Jerri Green on November 3 to become the first woman elected governor of Tennessee. If Burchett is appointed to the Senate, a special election would be held to fill his seat in Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District.