Senator Lamar Alexander

NASHVILLE - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., made it official today that he will seek a third term in 2014.

The 72-year-old former governor, U.S. education secretary and two-time presidential candidate, made the announcement to Republican State Executive Committee members.

"Our country has serious problems to solve," Alexander said. "We must fix the debt and move more decisions out of Washington. We must find better ways to help Americans move from the back of the line to the front in our struggling economy. It is time to stop making speeches and to start getting results."

Alexander told executive committee members that U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. will chair his 2014 re-election campaign.

Alexander also announced that campaign honorary co-chairs will be Gov. Bill Haslam, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, House Speaker Beth Harwell, along with U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn, Phil Roe, Diane Black, Stephen Fincher and Chuck Fleischmann.

Noticably absent from the list was U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a physician who is embroiled in controversy over having pressed a patient with whom he had an affair in 2000 to seek an abortion.