Blackburn’s move to governor leaves Hegseth with potential parachute

Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) bid to become Tennessee’s next governor is leaving a potential opening for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is viewed as one of the top oversight targets in the next Congress if House Democrats take the majority.

Hegseth, a former Army National Guard Major, is interested in the open Tennessee Senate seat, which expires in early 2031, two sources familiar with the matter told The Hill. A third source with knowledge of the conversations said Hegseth is campaigning behind the scenes for the post. A fourth who works closely with the Pentagon said his interest is an open secret.

Questions are swirling inside the Pentagon over how long Hegseth lasts after the midterms even if he’s not impeached, according to two sources regularly in the building.

The defense secretary is widely seen as one of the Iran war’s biggest boosters in the administration. That could become a liability if Republicans are left looking for people to blame after what polls suggest could be a painful midterms for the party, driven in part by the economic consequences of the war.

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson dismissed Hegseth’s interest in a move to the Senate as “beltway gossip by anonymous sources,” in a statement to The Hill.

“Whoever is feeding you these claims are either badly misinformed or deliberately leading you astray to peddle Fake News,” she added. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Secretary Hegseth’s singular priority is leading the War Department and delivering on the President’s America First agenda.”

In 2022, the defense secretary purchased a home in Goodlettsville, Tenn., which is located around 15 miles north of Nashville. He previously ran for Senate in his home state of Minnesota in 2012, but didn’t win the Republican nomination.

The Pentagon chief visited Tennessee earlier this month, stoking speculation about his future political ambitions.

Hegseth traveled to the Volunteer State as part of the “Send Me Tour,” speaking to University of Tennessee’s ROTC Cadets, administering the oath of enlistment to new recruits and attending the University of Tennessee vs. University of Alabama football game, where he wore the school’s light-blue polo shirt with a Tennessee-orange longsleeve shirt underneath.

“If there’s one entity that should win the Nobel Peace Prize every single year, it actually should be the United States military,” Hesgeth told recruits on Oct. 17 ahead of the football game. “Peace through strength: the reason our people live free, the reason we get to play football games like this one today, are because we are stronger than any other nation in the world.”

Blackburn, who is well ahead in the polls against her Democratic Party opponent Jerri Green, previously said that if she wins the gubernatorial race next week, she intends to stay in her seat until she is sworn in to pick her successor in the upper chamber.

Some political observers in the state think Hegseth’s name recognition could help.

“I certainly think Pete Hegseth is going to be the guy that is going to have the most weight in the room,” Tennessee GOP operative Monty Lankford told The Hill. “I mean, being the Secretary of War and having done what he’s done, and I’m confident [he would be] getting the endorsement of the president, I would think.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who has campaigned for Blackburn, has also thrown his name into the mix, along with former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger and Glenn Jacobs, the former mayor of Knox County.

“I will be honored to have that,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), who is on the ballot for reelection in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, said in a recent interview with Tennessee Lookout.

Blackburn’s team said the senator is “squarely focused” on next week’s election and has not had any discussions about who “may replace her nor is there a ‘short list.’”

“She has been very clear there will be no discussions about a potential replacement until the appropriate time,” campaign manager Abigail Sigler told The Hill in a statement.

The chatter around Hegseth’s interest in the seat, which was noted earlier by Puck , comes as Democrats debate whether to try to impeach the Pentagon chief, and more broadly, how to bring oversight to the Iran war.

Pentagon officials have defended the defense secretary, characterizing him as a “transformative leader” who instilled back standards and merit, leading to morale and recruitment inside the military to reach “all-time highs.”

“The entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision and will continue working to put our warfighters and America first,” Wilson said previously.

Several House Democrats have told The Hill they back Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) impeachment salvo, which he publicized last month , and they would also back a Democrat-led push to force the defense secretary’s removal.

The vote on Massie’s privileged resolution is expected to take place after lawmakers come back to Capitol Hill next month for the lame-duck session.

House Democrats, including those on the House Armed Services Committee, have criticized Hegseth for the lethal attacks against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the Pentagon’s lack of transparency during the conflict with Iran and firing over a dozen senior military officers since taking office.

The firings of respected military leaders has particularly rankled Republicans, who are also expressing growing frustration about Iran and Ukraine.

Hegseth has argued the military branches are “rank-heavy” and out of touch with troops on the ground.

President Trump blasted Democrats on Thursday over their chatter about impeaching Hegseth, calling it “terrible.

“All they do is they talk about impeaching everybody,” the president told reporters. “I mean, honestly, if we wanted to play that game, we could play it just as well.

Trump again praised the Pentagon chief for doing a “great job” and being a “great warrior.”

But Hegseth’s standing on Capitol Hill is eroding, even as the Pentagon ramps up its push for an Iran war supplemental funding request, $350 reconciliation package, and a base Pentagon budget that tops $1.1 trillion. Some wonder if this could be the first time in more than 6 decades that Congress fails to pass the NDAA before the end of the year.

“So much of it’s going to come down to how Iran is handled in the midterms? Are people losing their races over Iran, and as a result, is Trump looking for a scapegoat,” one source said, noting that Hegseth is someone who does want to spar with Democrats in hearings.

If Trump ends up looking for a new defense secretary, the administration is struggling to decide who it should be, this source said.

In the Senate, Democrats are quietly floating Hegseth’s ouster after the midterms, using the threat as leverage in defense spending talks with the White House, The Hill previously reported . The Democrats might have some Republican support.