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Lamar Alexander (born July 3, 1940Lamar Alexander is the junior United States Senator from Tennessee and a member of the Republican Party.

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A seventh generation Tennessean, he was born in Maryville, Tennessee as the son of a kindergarten teacher and elementary school principal. He is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University and was a law review editor at New York University Law School, where he roomed with current NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. He then clerked for John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans, served as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Howard Baker and worked for Bryce Harlow, counselor to late President Richard Milhous Nixon.

Alexander was the Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee in the election of 1974, but he was defeated by his Democratic opponent, Ray Blanton. He defeated Knoxville banker Jake Butcher in the election of 1978, becoming the 45th Governor of Tennessee, and made history by becoming the first person reelected to a 2nd 4-year term by defeating Knoxville mayor, Randy Tyree, in the 1982 election. Opting out of the 1984 U.S. Senate contest for the open seat of retiring Majority Leader Howard Baker, Alexander was constitutionally ineligible for a 3rd term and stepped down from the governorship in January 1987. Moving with his family to Australia for a time, he would soon return to Tennessee and became the president of the University of Tennessee (1988–1991), and United States Secretary of Education (1991–1993). He helped found a company that is now the nation's largest provider of worksite day care. He taught about the American character as a faculty member at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

He ran for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1996. He tried to project a “common man” image by frequently wearing plaid flannel shirts. His campaign signs were a simple "Lamar!" on a red background. His most visible campaign issue was to revert Congress back to an earlier vision of a group of citizen-legislators, who would only be in session half a year. Thus his slogan was "Cut their pay and send them home!" Alexander's campaign achieved some momentum in the early caucus and primary states, with upper-echelon finishes in a crowded field. He did not win any primaries, however, and eventually he lost forward progress and withdrew in the face of Bob Dole's superior organizational strength. Some said that the Democrats considered Alexander the most formidable of the GOP group and were relieved when Dole received the nomination.

Alexander ran for the Presidential nomination again in 2000. This time he ran a more conventional effort, dressed in business suits and without the part-time Congress issue. However he met with even less success.

Vowing to never again return to elective office, he was persuaded by the White House to run for the open seat of retiring Senator Fred Thompson in 2002. Seen as a moderate, his candidacy was vigorously opposed by conservatives who supported Congressman Ed Bryant, who had become one of the House managers during the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Alexander was well-funded and was armed by more prominent endorsements and eked out a closer-than-expected win over Bryant in the primary. Democrats had high hopes of recovering the seat with their candidate, Nashville Congressman Bob Clement, a member of a prominent political family, and despite grumblings by conservatives to defect to the moderately liberal Clement, Alexander was successful in defeating Clement in the general election that year. With his election to the U.S. Senate, he became the first Tennessean to be popularly elected both governor and senator. At 62, Alexander also became the oldest elected freshman U.S. Senator from Tennessee since Democrat Lawrence Tyson in 1924.

Senator Alexander chairs the subcommittees on Children and Families, on Energy, on African Affairs, as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Caucus.

In his second, successful campaign for governor, Lamar Alexander walked 1,000 miles across Tennessee in his now famous red and black plaid shirt. He is a classical and country pianist and the author of seven books, including , the story of his family's life in Australia after he was governor.

He is married to the former Honey Buhler of Victoria, Texas. They have four children. The Alexanders’ home is outside Maryville at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He is an elder of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

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