Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not under consideration to be appointed as Tennessee’s next senator, even as President Donald Trump weighs his top war official’s future in the administration.
Speculation about Hegseth potentially being tapped for a Senate seat in Tennessee, where he moved several years ago, has intensified in recent months. A looming Senate vacancy is coinciding with Trump’s frustration over a lack of resolution to the conflict with Iran and the expectation that Hegseth will face impeachment proceedings once the newly elected Democratic majority takes control of the House.
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who was elected governor of Tennessee on Tuesday, will appoint her successor after she resigns from the Senate in January to be sworn in to her new role.
Trump has not spoken to Blackburn about appointing Hegseth, said two people with knowledge of the situation. Blackburn is not considering Hegseth for the role, said a Republican operative in Tennessee with ties to Blackburn. The people, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The operative with ties to Blackburn called discussions about Hegseth being in line for the seat “spin from a bunch of consultants with nothing better to do,” and added that “DC won’t pick the next senator.”
Asked about whether he would like to see Hegseth take Blackburn’s Senate seat, Trump on Wednesday said he thought Hegseth would “be very popular if he did that,” but said he had not heard about plans for that to happen.
A person close to Hegseth said he was not interested in the role.
Trump has discussed Hegseth’s performance as defense secretary with friends and advisers recently, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations, but has publicly maintained that he is pleased with him.
On Thursday, Trump said Hegseth “has done a fantastic job,” and then added that “he’s got some interesting things,” without elaborating on what he meant.
Efforts to explore Hegseth’s viability in Tennessee politics have been underway since soon after he joined Trump’s Cabinet. The former Fox News host bought a home outside Nashville four years ago but has not been active in the Tennessee political scene in the time since.
In July 2025, a poll testing Hegseth as a potential candidate for Tennessee governor went out to Republican voters in Tennessee, according to screenshots of the survey that The Washington Post obtained.
“Pete Hegseth is a U.S. Army combat veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. A former Fox News host and leader of a veterans’ charity, he is now President Trump’s Secretary of Defense,” read one question in the online poll. “He recently helped orchestrate the successful U.S. strike that destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Based on this,” the question continued, “are you more or less likely to support Pete Hegseth?”
The poll asked whether voters preferred a “tough-as-nails conservative politician who has been to Washington and has a record we can trust,” among responses to another question, and a question about whether respondents supported “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s airstrikes on Iran that crippled the Iranian nuclear program.”
The poll was paid for by a Republican strategist in Nashville testing Hegseth as a potential gubernatorial candidate, but who had not been hired by Hegseth, said three people with knowledge of the survey.
The most likely contenders for the Senate appointment, according to people with knowledge of the situation, are Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs — the WWE wrestler known by the ring name Kane — as well as Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) and Stuart McWhorter, a top adviser to Gov. Bill Lee (R) who serves as deputy governor and commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.
McWhorter on Wednesday was tapped to lead Blackburn’s transition team.
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