***Live Updates*** Tennessee Primary Results

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty campaigns for the U.S. Senate Tuesday, Jan. 2
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Tennessee will hold primary elections on Thursday evening. In the marquee GOP Senate race, Bill Hagerty, whom President Donald Trump endorsed, faces off against Manny Sethi.

Breitbart’s Matt Boyle is on the ground in Tennessee and will be sending updates throughout the evening.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.

All times Eastern.

 

11:15 PM: Hargerty vs. Bradshaw in November.

10:25 PM:

10:12 PM: From Boyle in TN: Hagerty accepts GOP Senate nomination:

10:05 PM: Matt Boyle on Hagerty’s win:

GALLATIN, Tennessee — President Donald Trump completed his perfect record in U.S. Senate primaries this election cycle on Thursday night as his former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Bill Hagerty, defeated Dr. Manny Sethi in the GOP primary here for U.S. Senate.

Breitbart News was granted exclusive access to Hagerty’s campaign headquarters war room, where dozens of staffers in a local hotel conference room shouted out county-by-county results as they rolled in from across the state. For the first half hour, not a single county went Sethi’s way. and cheers were so loud that campaign staff closed the door so those in the hotel lobby more than 30 yards down the hall could not hear them.

The president personally recruited Hagerty, a longtime Trump loyalist, to leave his post in Japan and come back to run for the vacant Senate seat left open by the retiring longtime Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Trump even endorsed Hagerty several days before he officially announced his campaign, making Hagerty his first endorsement of the cycle in 2020—and one that the president has worked hard at over the more-than-a-year since ensuring Hagerty was successful. Trump has done multiple virtual events with Hagerty, and his son,Donald Trump, Jr., campaigned with Hagerty in Tennessee before the coronavirus pandemic upended in-person campaigning. He’s flooded social media with pro-Hagerty messages, and sent his top surrogates in on Hagerty’s behalf. Trump had been planning to hold a campaign rally in Tennessee with Hagerty, but since he is not doing the rallies anymore during the pandemic, the president held a series of tele-townhalls with his former ambassador to Japan, including one the night before the election. Vice President Mike Pence also endorsed Hagerty, meaning the White House—and Trump and his team—were all in on this one.

It paid off. Thursday’s results saw Hagerty win by more than 13 percent when the race was called by the New York Times and the Associated Press. When Baker and others announced to the room that the Times had called the race for Hagerty, the war room erupted in applause.

Hagerty’s message was nearly identical to Trump’s message: Tough on China, law and order, rebuilding the economy, and sending a fighter to Washington.

“We’ve got a great message to deliver,” Hagerty said in his last Breitbart News interview before the election on Breitbart News Tonight on Tuesday night. “We stand for law and order, getting our economy back again; we’re going to stand up against China, we’re going to deliver strong conservative Tennessee values to Washington where they are desperately needed.”

10:00 PM:

9:50 PM:

9:30 PM: From Boyle in TN: Hagerty joins Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in the war room right after the race called. Everyone is in a motorcade to downtown Gallatin where Hagerty will celebrate his victory.

9:20 PM: Hagerty wins.

9:10 PM: New York Times calls the race for Hagerty.

8:55 PM: Hagerty with steady double-digit lead.

Bill Hagerty: 51.3%
Manny Sethi: 40.4%
George Flinn: 2.4%
Other: 5.9%
Total Votes: 256,441

8:47 PM: Update from Boyle in Tennessee:

As Hagerty keeps winning several counties–including some places that far exceeded expectations–Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) each joined the war room at Hagerty HQ to heroes’ welcomes from the crowd as Ward Baker, the top adviser to Hagerty, introduced them to the staff in the room.

8:33 PM: Hagerty maintaining lead:

Bill Hagerty: 53.9%
Manny Sethi: 40.1%
George Flinn: 2.4%
Other: 3.6%
Total Votes: 159,446

8:30 PM: Hagerty 52.6%, Sethi 38.6% with 17% reporting.

8:20 PM: Matt Boyle from Tennessee:

Inside the war room of Hagerty’s campaign HQ, staff are poring over the numbers rolling in early. Spirits are very high here and the team feels like they’re winning most places they need to by big margins. Dozens of staffers are cheering as each county is shouted out. Not one county has gone Sethi’s way yet.

8:15 PM:

8:05 PM: Hagerty out to an early lead.

Hagerty: 10,843 — 49.88%

Sethi: 9,381 — 43.16%

 

8:00 PM: Polls now closed in Tennessee.

7:45 PM: Polls will close at the top of the hour:

 

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