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. 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.

In 2017, Lee described himself as a social conservative. As governor, he has signed bills to ban mask mandates and ranked-choice voting; implemented one of the country's strictest abortion bans; allowed guns to be carried without a permit; created school voucher programs; and increased penalties for protest-related offenses. Lee signed Tennessee's "bathroom bill"; 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.

William Byron Lee was born on October 9, 1959. He was raised on his family's 1,000-acre (400 ha) 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. 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."

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.

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%). 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 2026, 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.

In September 2020, Lee announced his candidacy for reelection for 2022. He was unchallenged in the Republican primary and endorsed in August 2021 by Donald Trump.

In the November 8 general election, Lee was reelected, receiving 1,129,390 votes (64.9%) to Democratic nominee Jason Martin's 572,818 (32.9%).

After Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, several weeks before the presidential election, Lee supported Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacant seat, citing her position on abortion. After Joe Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Lee was one of many Republican officials nationwide who refused to acknowledge Biden's victory amid Trump's false claims of fraud. Biden won a clear victory in both the popular and the electoral vote, but Lee refused to recognize Biden as president-elect even after the election had been called, after the presidential transition had formally begun, and after the electoral college had voted, formalizing Biden's victory. On January 8, 2021, two days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to disrupt the counting of the electoral votes and keep Trump in power, Lee condemned the riot and acknowledged Biden as president-elect.

In January 2020, Lee proposed a bill to ban abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The legislation was among the nation's strictest abortion bans, and was similar to six-week abortion bans that were blocked by courts in Mississippi, Ohio, and other states. Passed in the final hours of the General Assembly 2020 session on a party-line vote, it was challenged in federal court by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Lee signed the bill into law in July 2020. A federal judge immediately blocked its enforcement because it violated Supreme Court precedent, such as Roe v. Wade, which prohibits undue burdens on pre-viability abortions.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Lee supported Tennessee's near-total ban on abortion, which has no exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother's health. Lee has said the ban provides "maximum protection possible for both mother and child", but it makes no explicit exceptions for the pregnant patient's health. It makes an exception for an "affirmative defense" for emergencies, but the vagueness of that language makes physicians hesitant to perform abortions even when the mother's life is in jeopardy.

In 2019, Lee proposed repealing Tennessee's 10% amusement tax on gym, fitness center, and health club fees, arguing that the tax discourages Tennesseans from being physically active. If enacted, the repeal would reduce state revenues by about $10 million.

In September 2020, Lee supported a Tennessee delegation that traveled to Beijing to enhance trade and economic linkages between the state and the People's Republic of China.

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