United States Senate elections in Tennessee, 2012

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2012 U.S. Senate Elections in Tennessee

Candidates • Polls • Election History

November 6 Election Winner: Bob Corker

Incumbent prior to election: Bob Corker

Cook Political Report Race Rating      Solid R (Prior to election)

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2012 U.S. House Elections

Voters in Tennessee elected one member to the U.S. Senate in the November 6, 2012 elections.

Incumbent Bob Corker (R) won re-election on November 6, 2012.^[1]

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
April 5, 2012	August 2, 2012	November 6, 2012

Primary: Tennessee has an open primary system, in which any registered voter can choose which party's primary to vote in, without having to be a member of that party.

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by July 3, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 8, 2012.^[2]

See also: Tennessee elections, 2012

Incumbent: The election filled the Class 1 Senate seat, which was held by Bob Corker (R). First elected in 2006, Corker ran for re-election in 2012.

Election results

U.S. Senate, Tennessee General Election, 2012

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bob Corker Incumbent	64.9%	1,506,443
	Democratic	Mark E. Clayton	30.4%	705,882
	Constitution	Kermit Steck	0.8%	18,620
	Green	Martin Pleasant	1.7%	38,472
	Libertarian	Shaun E. Crowell	0.9%	20,936
	Independent	David Gatchell	0.3%	6,523
	Independent	Michael Joseph Long	0.3%	8,085
	Independent	Troy Stephen Scoggin	0.3%	8,080
Total Votes	2,320,189
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

Candidates

Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. Click here for more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan. Please contact us about errors in this list.

August 2, 2012, primary results
Democratic Primary

• Mark Clayton^[3]
• Larry Crim^[3]
• Gary Davis^[3]
• Dave Hancock^[3]
• Ashley King^[3]
• Park Overall^[3]
• T.K. Owens^[3]
• Benjamin Roberts^[4]

Republican Primary

• Bob Corker: Incumbent
• Brenda Lenard^[3]
• Mark Twain Clemens: Unemployed^[5]
• Fred Anderson^[3]
• Zach Poskevich: Technology consultant, Army veteran^[6]

Libertarian candidate

• Shaun Crowell^[3]

Independent candidates

• David Gatchell^[3]
• James Higdon^[3]
• Michel Long^[3]
• Troy Scoggin^[3]

Race background

Republican incumbent Bob Corker was first elected in 2006. He ran for re-election in 2012 against Democratic nominee Mark Clayton, who, like Corker, defeated several challengers in the August 2nd, 2012 primary election. The major party candidates appeared on November's ballot alongside seven minor-party candidates: Shaun Crowell, David Gatchell, James Higdon, Michel Long, Troy Scoggin, Kermit Steck, and Martin Pleasant.

Competitiveness

According to an analysis of the 2012 Senate races published by The New York Times, the Tennessee Senate race is rated as solid Republican.^[7]

Race rating

Cook Political Report

Each month the Cook Political Report released race ratings for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House (competitive only) and Governors. There were seven possible designations:^[8]

Solid Democratic      Likely Democratic      Lean Democratic

Tossup

Lean Republican      Likely Republican      Solid Republican

Cook Political Report Race Rating -- Tennessee Senate
Month	Rating
October 4, 2012[9]
September 13, 2012[10]
August 21, 2012[11]
July 12, 2012[12]
May 31, 2012[13]
May 10, 2012[14]
March 22, 2012[15]
March 1, 2012[16]
January 26, 2012[17]
December 22, 2011[18]
December 1, 2011[19]

Election history

2012

After Mark Clayton won the Democratic primary to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Bob Corker in November, the Democratic Party of Tennessee disavowed him as their candidate, saying he was part of an anti-gay hate group and did not uphold Democratic values. Even though Clayton won the primary with a sizable margin, state Democratic officials said they would do nothing to further his candidacy, and urged voters to vote for a write-in candidate in the fall.^[20]

2008

On November 4, 2008, Lamar Alexander won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Robert D. Tuke, Edward L. Buck, Christopher G. Fenner, Daniel Towers Lewis, Chris Lugo, Ed Lawhorn, and David Gatchell in the general election.^[21]

U.S. Senate, Tennessee General Election, 2008
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Lamar Alexander Incumbent	65.1%	1,579,477
	Democratic	Robert D. Tuke	31.6%	767,236
	Independent	Edward L. Buck	1.3%	31,631
	Independent	Christopher G. Fenner	0.5%	11,073
	Independent	Daniel Towers Lewis	0.4%	9,367
	Independent	Chris Lugo	0.4%	9,170
	Independent	Ed Lawhorn	0.4%	8,986
	Independent	David Gatchell	0.3%	7,645
Total Votes	2,424,585

2006

On November 7, 2006, Bob Corker won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Harold E. Ford, Jr., Ed Choate, David Gatchell, Emory “Bo” Heyward, Gary Keplinger, Christopher Joseph Lugo, James Anthony Gray, Gloria D. Reagon Price, and Mary Taylor Shelby in the general election.^[22]

U.S. Senate, Tennessee General Election, 2006
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bob Corker	50.7%	929,911
	Democratic	Harold E. Ford, Jr.	48%	879,976
	Independent	Ed Choate	0.6%	10,831
	Independent	David Gatchell	0.2%	3,746
	Independent	Emory “Bo” Heyward	0.2%	3,580
	Independent	Gary Keplinger	0.2%	3,033
	Independent	Christopher Joseph Lugo	0.1%	2,589
	Independent	James Anthony Gray	0%	14
	Independent	Gloria D. Reagon Price	0%	13
	Independent	Mary Taylor Shelby	0%	1
	Independent		0%	1
Total Votes	1,833,695

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee, 2012
• United States Senate elections, 2012

External links

• Official List of November 2012 Candidates

Footnotes