Bill Hagerty

Hagerty was born in Gallatin, Tennessee, and comes from Sumner County, Tennessee; he is an Eagle Scout. He attended Madisonville North Hopkins High School in Madisonville, Kentucky.⁠[1][2]

He received a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in 1981 and a law degree from Vanderbilt in 1984.⁠[1]

Hagerty began his career at Boston Consulting Group, where his work took him to five continents, including three years in Tokyo. He later worked as a venture capital and private equity investor and served as an executive and board member of companies listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq.⁠[2]

He founded Hagerty Peterson & Company and served as its managing director. He was a White House Fellow and served on the domestic policy staff of the George H. W. Bush administration, and he was national finance chairman of Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.⁠[1]

From 2011 to 2014 Hagerty served in Governor Bill Haslam’s cabinet as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. His Senate office says he reorganized the department, cutting more than 40 percent of its positions, and that Tennessee was named “State of the Year for Economic Development” two years in a row during that period.⁠[2][1]

On August 31, 2017, Hagerty presented his credentials to the Emperor of Japan and assumed duty as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan.⁠[3]

After about two years in the post, the U.S. Embassy announced his departure on July 16, 2019.⁠[4]

In the general election on November 3, 2020, Hagerty won a U.S. Senate seat from Tennessee with 62.2% of the vote, defeating Democrat Marquita Bradshaw (35.2%); he succeeded Lamar Alexander and took office on January 3, 2021.⁠[1][1]

On February 4, 2025, Hagerty introduced the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act) with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis, to create federal licensing and oversight rules for payment stablecoins and their issuers.⁠[5]

During Senate consideration the chamber adopted a substitute amendment authored by Hagerty and passed the bill (S. 1582) 68–30 on June 17, 2025; the House passed the Senate version without amendment 308–122 on July 17.⁠[6]

On July 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed it into law, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States. The law sets a $10 billion threshold above which non-bank issuers must be federally regulated, with the Office of the Comptroller of the CurrencyOffice of the Comptroller of the CurrencyThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an independent U.S. Treasury bureau that supervises national banks and other institutions.Open the full entry as the default regulator, and prohibits issuers from paying interest or yield for simply holding a stablecoin.⁠[7][6]

Hagerty ran unopposed in the 2026 Republican primary and was endorsed by President Donald Trump. He said his priorities included securing the southern border, lowering taxes, energy independence and national security, and that he was “committed to lowering the cost of living for Tennessee families.”⁠[8]

In the general election on November 3, 2026, Hagerty again defeated Democrat Marquita Bradshaw, a grassroots organizer and environmental justice nonprofit director, to win a second term; the Associated Press declared him the winner at 11:28 p.m. EST.⁠[9][8]

Hagerty serves on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Foreign Relations; Appropriations; and Rules and Administration committees. In the 119th Congress (2025–2026) he chairs the Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, and is a member of the Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets.⁠[2][1]

He and his wife, Chrissy, live in Davidson County, Tennessee.⁠[2]

Office of U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty: Official website: https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

X: Public account: https://x.com/SenatorHagerty (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqLlLx05ScUwxVHvevyaDFg (opens in a new window).⁠[2]