William Vanderpool "Van" Hilleary (born June 20, 1959) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1995 to 2003.

Hilleary was born in Dayton, Tennessee, the seat of Rhea County, and raised in nearby Spring City, where his family operated a textile manufacturing concern.

Hilleary easily won the Republican primary and faced Democratic nominee Jeff Whorley, a former aide to Cooper, in the general election.

[citation needed] Hilleary was considered a logical choice for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2002, withstanding a challenge from the party's moderate wing made by Jim Henry, former minority leader in the Tennessee House of Representatives and former mayor of Kingston.

Henry's race was largely supported and financed by members of the inner circle of unpopular outgoing GOP governor Don Sundquist, a fact resented by many grassroots activists, and Hilleary defeated him by a wide margin.

At first, Bredesen agreed to be bound by a relatively new Tennessee state law limiting the amount of money one could contribute to one's own campaign for elective office.

Faced with huge and potentially overwhelming resources against him, Hilleary reversed his previous position on PACs and began to actively solicit donations from them.

Hilleary displayed a high level of knowledge about this issue in a debate between the two, despite the fact that Bredesen had made most of his fortune as a managed health care executive.

Bredesen defeated him largely by doing far better than expected in heavily Republican East Tennessee, an area where Democrats are not normally competitive except in statewide landslides.

Despite over 80% name recognition, Hilleary placed a distant third with a mere 17% of the vote in the primary, behind fellow former Congressman Ed Bryant, who received 34% and the winner, former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, who won with a 48% plurality.

[citation needed] One of his clients was the Lumbee Indian Tribe of North Carolina, which was seeking federal status from Congress and $77 million in funding for education, health care and economic development that would come with recognition.

[citation needed] On December 11, 2018, it was announced that Hilleary would be returning to Congress as the Chief of Staff for John Rose, Representative-elect for Tennessee's 6th congressional district, which contains much of the territory that he had once represented.