NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on Tennessee’s open Senate seat (all times local):
10:50 a.m.
Tennessee’s U.S. Rep. Mark Green is the latest Republican contender to say he won’t run for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
Green made the announcement Thursday, shortly after former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam declared he wouldn’t run for the position being vacated by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.
In a statement, the 54-year-old Green said his top priorities at the moment are ensuring President Donald Trump gets reelected and winning back Republican control of the U.S. House.
Green raised eyebrows last year when he challenged, without evidence, the science behind vaccines. Green also claimed that the federal government was hiding information about the negative side effects of vaccines. Green, who is a physician, has since walked back his comments.
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7 a.m.
Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has told The Tennessean that he won’t run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.
When Alexander announced in December that he would not seek reelection in 2020, Haslam said he would give “serious consideration” to making a Senate bid.
The popular two-term Republican governor had previously declined to run for the seat that Republican Sen. Bob Corker vacated in January.
In a letter to the newspaper, Haslam wrote, “While I think serving in the United States Senate would be a great privilege and responsibility, I have come to the conclusion that it is not my calling for the next period of my life.”
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