Former Tennessee congressman Hilleary announces run for 6th Congressional District

Van Hilleary kicked off his campaign for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District on July 11, 2025. (Photo: J. Holly McCall/Tennessee Lookout)

Former Congressman Van Hilleary launched his 2026 bid Friday to return to Congress as he vies to succeed U.S. Rep. John Rose in Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District. 

Hilleary, a Republican, told the crowd he is running to “ensure President (Donald) Trump has backup.”

“At the national level, I think our country in many ways is hanging on by its fingertips,” he said. “Our nation has been on a slow decline for years and that decline has been gaining steam during the Biden years.”

Hilleary said the Biden administration found “new and dangerous ways to tear down the traditional and normal symbols of this country.”

He also said Democrats had attacked Second Amendment rights and suppressed public speech — particularly regarding Covid vaccination information — criticized Biden immigration policies and addressed the issue of transgender athletes playing college sports. 

Hilleary was elected to represent Tennessee’s 4th District in 1994 and served through 2002, when he narrowly lost his race for governor to Democrat Phil Bredesen. In 2006, he came in third in a three-way Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. 

He has served as chief of staff to Rose — who is running for governor in 2026 — since Rose’s 2018 election and Rose introduced Hilleary at Friday’s event, emphasizing Hilleary’s credentials as a former congressman. 

“When your chief of staff is a former Congressman, he’s held in particularly high regard,” Rose said.

Hilleary won his first election amid a conservative backlash to the policies of President Bill Clinton that ushered in a Republican House Majority for the first time in decades. He told the crowd at his kickoff he voted against Clinton administration policies more than any other member of Congress during his tenure.

About 350 people turned out at Friday’s event in Sumner County. Elected officials attending included state Sen. Paul Bailey and Rep. Paul Sherrell, both Sparta Republicans, Rep. Michael Hale, a Smithville Republican, Hendersonville Mayor Jamie Clary and Republican National Committee Committee Member Beth Campbell. 

State Rep. Johnny Garrett, a Goodlettsville Republican who serves as House Majority Whip, announced his candidacy for the District 6 seat on Tuesday. Other candidates to announce so far are Republican Dale Braden and Democrat Mike Croley.