| Tre Hargett | |
| Office: | 37th Secretary of State of Tennessee |
| Term Start: | January 15, 2009 |
| Predecessor: | Riley Darnell |
| Office1: | Chair of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority |
| Governor1: | Phil Bredesen |
| Term Start1: | February 2008 |
| Term End1: | January 2009 |
| Predecessor1: | Pat Miller |
| Successor1: | Kenneth Hill |
| State House2: | Tennessee |
| District2: | 97th |
| Term Start2: | 1996 |
| Term End2: | 2006 |
| Preceded2: | Tim Joyce |
| Succeeded2: | Jim Coley |
| Birth Name: | Gus Lusk Hargett III |
| Birth Date: | 7 February 1969 |
| Birth Place: | Ripley, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Party: | Republican |
| Spouse: | Dawn Simbeck |
| Children: | 2 |
| Father: | Gus L. Hargett Jr. |
| Education: | University of Memphis (BA, MBA) |
| Signature: | Tre Hargett (Signature).png |
Gus Lusk "Tre" Hargett III (born February 7, 1969) is an American Republican Party politician who is serving as the 37th Secretary of State of Tennessee since 2009.
He is the son of Tennessee Adjutant General Gus L. Hargett Jr. and Mrs. Pat Vaughan. He is a Southern Baptist.[1]
Hargett earned a B.B.A. in accounting with honors, as well as an M.B.A. from the University of Memphis.
In the private sector, Hargett worked for Rural/Metro, an emergency services provider. At the time of his appointment as TRA chairman, Hargett was serving as the corporation's Vice President for the Southern Region.
Hargett served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1996 to 2006 representing District 97 (Bartlett and Memphis).[2] He was twice elected Republican Leader by his colleagues.
In 2007, he was nominated to the position of Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) chairman, which sets the rates and service standards of privately owned telephone, natural gas, electric and water utilities.[3] [4] He was confirmed by the Tennessee General Assembly and served from February 2008 through January 2009. He was succeeded by Dr. Kenneth Hill.[5]
In January 2009, the state legislature's new Republican majority voted to replace longtime Secretary of State Riley Darnell with Hargett. Hargett immediately resigned from his position as TRA chairman and took office as secretary of state on January 15, 2009.
In September 2017, a state debate took place on whether to remove a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, inside the Tennessee State Capitol. Hargett said he favored keeping the bust.[6]
In 2019, Hargett supported legislation which would make it possible to fine voter registration groups that submitted incomplete voter registrations.[7] [8] Critics charged that the legislation was intended to reduce registration of new voters.[9] Hargett denied that the bill was intended to reduce registration of black voters.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee, Hargett opposed allowing voters who fear catching or spreading the coronavirus to vote by mail in the 2020 elections. A state judge overruled Hargett's position, holding that Tennessee must allow vote by mail for all voters and that the restrictions on vote by mail that Hargett sought to impose were "an unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution."[10]
In June 2022, Hargett was arrested in Tullahoma, Tennessee, after leaving a bar after attending the Bonnaroo Music Festival, and was charged with driving under the influence. He took a "best interest" plea deal in October 2022, in which he pleaded guilty but maintained his innocence.[11]
In June 2024 Hargett was accused of intimidation for telling 14,375 voters to prove citizenship weeks before primary. His letter in which he baselessly suspected thousands of Americans of voting illegally, contained no information "about what happens if someone does not reply. It also offers no information on how their names were flagged for review." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/12/tennessee-voter-rolls-letter
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