William Gary Lamberth (born December 5, 1977) is an American politician.
/ref>Campaign website
/ref>William Lamberth's victory restores TN District 44 seat to GOP
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The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, w ...

'', November 06, 2012Lamberth '04 Elected to Tennessee State House
William & Mary Law School, November 07, 2012 He serves as a Republican member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

for the forty-fourth district, encompassing parts of

Sumner County, Tennessee Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of Tennessee in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its most populous city is Hendersonville. T ...

Biography

Early life

He was born on December 5, 1977, in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

. He is a fifth generation resident of Sumner County, Tennessee, and grew up on a farm in Tennessee. He attended Portland High School. He graduated from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, in 2001 and received a J.D. from the

William & Mary School of Law William & Mary Law School, formally the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, is the law school of the College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the oldest extant law school in the United States, having bee ...

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

, in 2004, where he was elected President of the Student Bar Association.

Career

He was an Assistant District Attorney for Sumner County. He now practices law as a private attorney in

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Named for United States Secre ...

. He was elected as state representative for the forty-fourth district Tennessee in 2012, replacing Democratic representative Mike McDonald. He is former president of the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

, and the Sumner County Bar Association, and former treasurer of the Republican Party of Sumner County. He is also Chairman of the Portland Community Education Foundation, table host and donor to the Cumberland Crisis Pregnancy Center in Gallatin. He also donates to the Middle Tennessee Mission Outreach and regularly goes on Christian missions to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and other regions of the world that are in need of humanitarian relief efforts. In 2023, Lamberth supported a resolution to expel three Democratic lawmakers from the legislature for violating decorum rules. The expulsion was widely characterized as unprecedented.

Political positions

Marijuana

Lamberth embarked on an effort to ban all forms of cannabis in Tennessee containing greater than .3% THC.

LGBTQ rights

Lamberth has been criticized by the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

for supporting bills to criminalize doctors performing gender reassignment surgery, requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to their biological sex, and requiring transgender athletes in high school to compete in collegiate sports that correspond to their biological sex.

Education

In 2025, Lamberth sponsored legislation that aims to challenge the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case, ''

Plyler v. Doe ''Plyler v. Doe'', 457 U.S. 202 (1982), was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down both a state statute denying funding for education of undocumented immigrant children in the United States and an independe ...

'', which established the right to an education for all students, regardless of immigration status. Lamberth cited the cost of educating undocumented students in his proposal. The bill would authorize school districts to refuse to enroll students who are illegally present or unable to prove legal residence in the United States, or charge them tuition. Lamberth has stated that he believes ''Plyler v. Doe'' was wrongly decided and that the current Supreme Court would be likely to reverse the ruling.

Personal life

He is married and has two children. He is a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

. He lives in Cottontown, Tennessee, with his family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamberth, William G. 1977 births Living people Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Sumner County, Tennessee Politicians from Bowling Green, Kentucky University of Tennessee alumni William & Mary Law School alumni 21st-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly