President Donald Trump, who passed on endorsing U.S. Rep. Diane Black in Tennessee's Republican gubernatorial primary like she had hoped, came out quickly to endorse the new Republican nominee Bill Lee Friday morning.
In a tweet after Thursday's election, Trump congratulated Lee, a Franklin businessman, on his victory.
"Congratulations to Bill Lee of Tennessee on his big primary win for governor last night," Trump tweeted. "He ran a great campaign and now will finish off the job in November. Bill has my total and enthusiastic Endorsement!"
Lee now faces Democratic nominee Karl Dean, former mayor of Nashville, in the Nov. 6 general election.
Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.