Bill Lee

William Byron Lee (born October 9, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who has served since 2019 as the 50th governor of Tennessee.

William Byron Lee was born on October 9, 1959.

He was raised on his family's 1000 acre cattle farm started by his grandparents in Franklin, Tennessee, the Triple L Ranch; the family raises Hereford cattle.

Lee is a seventh-generation Tennessean.

After graduating from Franklin High School in his hometown, Lee entered Auburn University in 1977 and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

In college, Lee was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order, a fraternity known at the time for its use of Confederate imagery, and a photo printed in the university's 1980 yearbook shows Lee in a Confederate military uniform at the fraternity's "Old South" party.

This marked the first time since 1982 that a candidate from the incumbent U.S. President's party was elected governor of Tennessee.

This is also the first time that Republicans won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state, and the first time that a Republican was elected to succeed another Republican.

As of 2024, this election had the largest number of candidates (28) in a statewide election in U.S. history; the previous record was the 2016 United States presidential election in Colorado.

This large surge in candidates was mostly due to the Libertarian Party of Tennessee's protest of the state's party affiliation and ballot access laws.

[[File:2022 Tennessee gubernatorial election results map by county.svg|thumb|350px|alt=Final results by county|Final results by county in 2022:{{legend|#E27F7F|Bill Lee}}

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A member of the Republican Party, Lee was president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Lee Company, a business operated by his family, from 1992 to 2016.

Lee was named president and CEO of his family's home services and construction company, Lee Company, holding the position from 1992 until 2016.

He briefly served as chairman.

His first wife, Carol Ann, died in 2000 in a horseback riding accident.

After her death, Lee took extended time off from his construction company to raise his four children.

Lee attends Grace Chapel Church in Leiper's Fork.

Lee previously served as a member of the board of trustees of Belmont University, chairman of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, and a board member of the Hope Clinic for Women and the Men of Valor Prison Ministry.

Lee lives in Fernvale with his second wife, Maria, whom he married in October 2008.

In 2017, Lee described himself as a social conservative.

As governor, he has signed bills to ban abortion in Tennessee, mask mandates, and ranked-choice voting; to allow guns to be carried without a permit, create school voucher programs, and increase penalties for protest-related offenses.

Lee signed Tennessee's "bathroom bill", as well as a bill that assures continued taxpayer funding of faith-based adoption agencies that exclude LGBT people for religious reasons, and the Adult Entertainment Act, which banned drag shows in public until a federal court ruled it unconstitutional.

In April 2017, Lee announced his candidacy in the 2018 election for governor of Tennessee.

A self-described social conservative, he also targeted pro-business Republicans.

In the Republican primary election, Lee faced Congresswoman Diane Black, Knoxville businessman and former Tennessee Economic and Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, and state House speaker Beth Harwell.

Originally considered a long shot, Lee Rose in the polls as Boyd and Black launched negative advertising against each other.

He won the August 2 primary with 291,414 votes (36.8%) to Boyd's 193,054 (24.3%), Black's 182,457 (23.0%), and Harwell's 121,484 (15.3%).

Lee defeated former Democratic Nashville mayor Karl Dean in the November 6 general election, receiving 1,336,106 votes (59.6%) to Dean's 864,863 (38.6%).

[[File:2018 Tennessee gubernatorial election results map by county.svg|thumb|350px|alt=Final results by county| Final results by county in 2018:{{legend|#E27F7F|Bill Lee}}

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In 2019, after his attendance came to light, Lee expressed regret for his participation: "I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that participating in that was insensitive and I've come to regret it."