Tennessee state senator pleads no contest to misdemeanor DUI charge

Sen. Ken Yager, a Kingston Republican, pleaded guilty on Aug. 11, 2025, to a DUI charge in Georgia stemming from a late 2024 incident. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Republican state Sen. Ken Yager of East Tennessee pleaded no contest Monday to drunk driving in Jekyll Island, Georgia, where he was arrested late last year on multiple charges.

Yager, 78, a Kingston lawmaker who serves as chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, entered the plea through his attorney to the misdemeanor charge of DUI Less Safe, some nine months after his December 2024 arrest in affluent Glynn County, Georgia.

The court dismissed charges of hit and run, duty of a driver to stop or return to the scene of an accident, and failure to yield, according to a statement from Yager. The senator said he had completed 40 hours of community service and attended DUI school as part of the plea agreement in which he neither denied nor admitted guilt but accepted the punishment.

Yager expressed regret and apologized for the incident and said he failed to live up to his personal and professional principles, letting down his family, friends and constituents.

Sen. Ken Yager faces DUI, hit-and-run charges after Georgia arrest

“I take full responsibility for my actions on December 3rd. Drinking and driving is a very serious matter. It will never happen again,” Yager said in a statement.

The day of his arrest, Georgia state troopers were notified that a Ford Edge with Tennessee plates was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run incident on Jekyll Island. Troopers found the vehicle in a market parking lot of the beach resort town where emergency personnel were evaluating Yager, who tripped and fell, police reported.

DUI Less Safe is a charge of driving under the influence in which the prosecution can contend the motorist’s ability to drive was impaired even though their blood-alcohol content could be below the legal limit of .08%. Yager’s blood-alcohol content was recorded at .14%, and he refused a blood test after being arrested, according to the police report.

Yager told troopers he was involved in a crash earlier but that he thought everyone was OK and after talking to the other driver, he decided to leave the scene, not knowing police were en route, according to the incident report. He told officers he had drunk a couple of glasses of wine earlier in the day.

Because he pleaded to a misdemeanor charge rather than a felony, the lawmaker would not be subject to the Senate’s rules for expulsion.