NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam said today he will not seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, leaving an open GOP primary field for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
“While Crissy and I will always be grateful for all of the encouragement and support to run for the United States Senate, I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for Senate in 2018,” Haslam said in a statement.
He said “the primary reason is that I want to remain completely focused on my job as governor.”
The governor added “I know that being a candidate for the Senate during my last 15 months as governor would be a distraction from the task at hand.”
He also said “while I have loved being a mayor and a governor, I don’t feel the same call to run for Senate at this point. At the end of my term, I will have been in public office for 15 years. I feel like I can be most helpful in my next service as a private citizen.”