Tennessee Governor's Race
CQ Politics Race Rating: Leans Republican
Governors Race Rating ChartIncumbent — Phil Bredesen (D); Term limited; cannot run again
Year | Election | Candidate | Votes | Percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | general | Phil Bredesen (D) | 1,247,491 | 68.6% |
Jim Bryson (R) | 540,853 | 29.7% |
Although Tennessee has behaved electorally as a partisan swing state over the past decade, this year’s race to term-limited incumbent Bredesen – a conservative-leaning Democrat – is widely considered the Republicans’ to lose. A national trend benefitting Republican candidates this year is being felt most profoundly in Southern states such as Tennessee.
But a Republican takeover is not a certain prospect, in part because three relatively high-profile and well-funded political pros make up the top tier of the field for an Aug. 5 GOP primary that will take place just less than three months before the general election. Polls have showed no clear favorite among U.S. Rep.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have avoided an expensive and potentially bruising primary campaign by clearing the field for Mike McWherter, a businessman whose father, Ned McWherter, was Tennessee’s governor from 1987 to 1995. The field thinned by one in early December when state Sen. Roy Herron shifted over to the contest for the 8th Congressional District House seat unexpectedly left open by Tanner, who is retiring. He was followed out of the race by businessman Ward Cammack in early December; state Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle in late February; and former state House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, who announced at the end of March that she would instead run for mayor of Clarksville.
The Republican field became crowded when Bill Frist, the U.S. Senate majority leader when he chose not to run for re-election in 2006, made clear that he would not run for governor in 2010.
Overall statewide trends would seem to favor a Republican takeover. Tennessee voters inflicted a costly defeat on native-son Democrat Al Gore in his 2000 presidential contest with Republican
But Democrats have shown they still can compete. Corker won only narrowly in the 2006 Senate race, edging Democrat Harold E. Ford Jr., a congressman from Memphis who was trying to become the state’s first African-American senator. Bredesen, meanwhile, won a landslide re-election victory for governor that year. His party has a 5-4 edge in the state’s U.S. House delegation — though that appears fragile with the retirement announcements by veteran Reps. Tanner and
Race Information
- Incumbent: Phil Bredesen, D
- First Elected: 2002 (2nd term)
- Incumbent Status: Term limited; cannot run again
- CQ Politics Race Rating: Leans Republican
State Information
- U.S. Senate Delegation: 2 Republicans
- U.S. House Delegation: 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans
- Senators
- Lamar Alexander, R
- First Elected: 2002 (2nd term)
- Last Elected: 2008 (65.14%)
- Bob Corker, R
- First Elected: 2006 (1st term)
- Last Elected: 2006 (50.71%)
- State Offices
- State House Control: Democratic
- State Senate Control: TIED
Year | Election | Candidate | Votes | Percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | general | Phil Bredesen (D) | 1,247,491 | 68.6% |
Jim Bryson (R) | 540,853 | 29.7% | ||
Carl Whitaker (I) | 11,374 | 0.6% | ||
George Banks (I) | 7,531 | 0.4% | ||
Charles Smith (I) | 4,083 | 0.2% | ||
Howard Switzer (I) | 2,711 | 0.2% | ||
David Gatchell (I) | 2,385 | 0.1% | ||
Marivuana Leinoff (I) | 2,114 | 0.1% | ||
2002 | general | Phil Bredesen (D) | 837,284 | 50.6% |
Van Hilleary (R) | 786,803 | 47.6% | ||
Edwin Sanders (I) | 7,749 | 0.5% | ||
Carl Whitaker (I) | 5,308 | 0.3% | ||
John Hooker (I) | 4,577 | 0.3% | ||
David Gatchell (I) | 2,991 | 0.2% | ||
Gabriel Givens (I) | 1,591 | 0.1% | ||
Ray Ledford (I) | 1,589 | 0.1% | ||
James Herren (I) | 1,210 | 0.1% | ||
Charles Wilhoit (I) | 898 | 0% | ||
Marivuana Leinoff (I) | 645 | 0% | ||
Francis Waldron (I) | 635 | 0% | ||
Ronny Simmons (I) | 630 | 0% | ||
Robert Watson (I) | 579 | 0% | ||
Basil Marceaux (I) | 302 | 0% | ||
1998 | general | Don Sundquist (R) | 669,973 | 68.9% |
John Jay Hooker (D) | 287,750 | 29.6% | ||
George Alexander Hamilton Sr. (I) | 5,899 | 0.6% | ||
Irwin W. Gibbs (I) | 4,651 | 0.5% | ||
Lonnie L. Creech (I) | 3,721 | 0.4% | ||
1994 | general | Don Sundquist (R) | 807,104 | 54.3% |
Phil Bredesen (D) | 664,252 | 44.7% | ||
Stephanie Holt (I) | 9,981 | 0.7% | ||
Will Smith (I) | 3,365 | 0.2% | ||
Charlie Moffet (I) | 2,347 | 0.2% | ||
1982 | general | Lamar Alexander (R) | 737,963 | 59.6% |
Randy Tyree (D) | 500,937 | 40.4% | ||
1978 | general | Lamar Alexander (R) | 661,959 | 55.6% |
Jake Butcher (D) | 523,495 | 44% | ||
1974 | general | Ray Blanton (D) | 576,833 | 55.4% |
Lamar Alexander (R) | 455,467 | 43.8% |
Year | Democrat | Republican | Independent |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Barack Obama: 41.83% | John McCain: 56.9% | |
2004 | John Kerry: 43% | George W. Bush: 57% | |
2000 | Al Gore: 47% | George W. Bush: 51% | |
1996 | Bill Clinton: 48% | Robert Dole: 46% |