Source Close To Tennessee Governor-Elect Marsha Blackburn Reportedly Shares Pete Hegseth’s Chances Of Being Appointed To Senate

From a source close to incoming Tennessee Gov. Marsha Blackburn:

"[Pete Hegseth] is not being considered [for Senate]. This is nothing more than Washington, D.C., spin from a bunch of consultants with nothing better to do. The Blackburn team is focused on the transition, not…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 5, 2026

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The race to replace Sen. Marsha Blackburn is intensifying in Tennessee, just days after she won the race for governor, with one Republican congressman publicly expressing interest and speculation swirling around Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican who won reelection Tuesday, told The Associated Press that he wants to be considered for the Senate seat when Blackburn becomes governor in January.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Burchett said when asked.

Hegseth has also surfaced as a potential replacement, with his future uncertain after Republicans’ sweeping losses in the midterm elections. But Hegseth is not currently being considered for the seat, according to a person familiar with the matter who discussed the private conversations on condition of anonymity.

The person said Blackburn is focused on her transition to the governorship and dismissed the speculation about appointing Hegseth to the Senate seat as baseless chatter.

Blackburn, who is serving her second Senate term, has indicated she plans to retain the seat until she is sworn in as governor, allowing her to appoint her own replacement to serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in January 2031.

Meanwhile, Hegseth released a video on social media on Thursday in which he acknowledged the threat of impeachment and argued that it would be “all about the politics of personal destruction” and that “won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”

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There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment:

Hegseth resigns. https://t.co/fRSAIizUH8

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 5, 2026

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If Trump’s going to replace appointees like Hegseth, he should do it while he can still get the replacements confirmed in the Senate.

Also, my Hegseth impeachment resolution is a much gentler version of what’s coming when Dem’s control Congress. They’ll have hearings & trials. https://t.co/7p3qlqCugw

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 5, 2026

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It’s possible the House could move to table the articles, or send them to committee, euthanizing the effort. But a growing number of House Republicans have grumbled about Hegseth. Any effort to dismiss the articles in the House might not work.

It’s about the math.

All Democrats are likely to vote to impeach. There are some Republicans who have said privately they’d like to impeach. Now, after the midterms, you have more Republicans hoping to build distance between themselves and President Trump. Moreover, the war in Iran contributed directly to the GOP’s thumping. So even more Republicans may be willing to impeach. Finally, the GOP may have attendance problems. Members who lost — or were shocked that they lost — might not show up. In other words, there may be more Democrats in the House next week than Republicans.

Don’t forget that some Republicans are now looking for a scapegoat after the election.

A simple majority is necessary to impeach.

Then the House would send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

Under Senate rules of impeachment, the Senate must at least receive and consider the articles. But it could move quickly to dismiss. That’s what happened when the Senate considered articles of impeachment for former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a few years ago. The bona fide “trial” part of the process never happened where the Senate heard arguments, listened to witnesses and took evidence.

It takes a simple majority to dismiss such articles. Again, this could happen under a Republican-controlled Senate. But how might outgoing Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., vote?

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