U.S. Embassy: Hagerty to step down this month for Senate bid

(Photo credit: U.S. Embassy in Japan)

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, who is expected to mount a bid for Tennessee’s U.S. Senate in 2020, is officially “in the process of resigning” his diplomatic post “later this month,” the embassy said Tuesday.

The statement comes days after President Donald Trump announced Friday via Twitter that Hagerty was running to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. Trump said Hagerty, a former state economic commissioner who ran a private equity prior to becoming a member of Trump’s presidential team and later his ambassador, has his full support.

The embassy did not say Hagerty planned to run for the Senate seat. Alexander along with fellow Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn are believed to be already privately making calls on Hagerty’s behalf and also plan to publicly endorse him when he makes his candidacy official.

Nashville surgeon Manny Sethi is the only major announced Republican candidate in the race so far. But Republicans U.S. Rep. David Kustoff of Memphis and former state senator Jamie Woodson are also considering a bid

Nashville attorney and Iraq war veteran James Mackler has already announced for the seat.

Here’s the U.S. Embassy’s release:

U.S. Ambassador to Japan William F. Hagerty IV is in the process of resigning as Ambassador. He was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Japan on July 27, 2017 and will have served approximately two years.

Ambassador Hagerty is honored to have represented the President and the American people in his work to advance the U.S.-Japan Alliance, the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Pacific.

Upon Ambassador Hagerty’s departure, Joseph M. Young will assume duties as the U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.