2008 Tennessee elections

Tennessee state elections in 2008 were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Primary elections for the United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, Tennessee Senate, and Tennessee House of Representatives, as well as various judicial retention elections, were held on August 7, 2008.

Presidential election

President of the United States

County results

McCain

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

Obama

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

Tennessee is a stronghold for the Republican Party, and is considered a reliable "red state." Tennessee had 11 electoral votes in the Electoracollegege at this time. In the general election, Republican candidate John McCain won the state with 56.85% of the vote to Democratic candidate Obama's 41.79%.

The presidential primaries were held on February 5, 2008. Mike Huckabee won Tennessee's Republican primary over senator John McCain of Arizona. Former first lady Hillary Clinton defeated senator Barack Obama of Illinois in the Tennessee Democratic primary.

Results

United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2008^[1]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	1,479,178	56.85%	11
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,087,437	41.79%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	11,560	0.44%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	8,547	0.33%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	8,191	0.31%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	2,499	0.10%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	Write-ins	2,333	0.09%	0
	Socialist	Brian Moore	Stewart Alexander	1,326	0.05%	0
	Boston Tea	Charles Jay	Thomas Knapp	1,011	0.04%	0
Totals				2,601,982	100.00%	11
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						55.5%

February 5, 2008, Primary Results

United States Congress

Senate

County results

Lamar Alexander

80–90%
70–80%
60–70%
50–60%
40–50%

Bob Tuke

50–60%

Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander won re-election to a second term, with 65.1% of the vote against Democrat Bob Tuke, who won just 32.6%.

Results

United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2008^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Alexander (Incumbent)	1,579,477	65.14%	+10.87%
	Democratic	Bob Tuke	767,236	31.64%	−12.69%
	Independent	Edward L. Buck	31,631	1.30%	N/A
	Independent	Christopher G. Fenner	11,073	0.46%	N/A
	Independent	Daniel Towers Lewis	9,367	0.39%	N/A
	Independent	Chris Lugo	9,170	0.38%	N/A
	Independent	Ed Lawhorn	8,986	0.37%	N/A
	Independent	David Gatchell	7,645	0.32%	N/A
Majority			812,241	33.50%	+23.56%
Turnout			2,424,585	66.34%
	Republican hold		Swing

August 7, 2008, Primary Results

Democratic Party primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Tuke	59,050	32.21%
	Democratic	Gary G. Davis	39,119	21.34%
	Democratic	Mike Padgett	33,471	18.26%
	Democratic	Mark E. Clayton	32,309	17.62%
	Democratic	Kenneth Eaton	14,702	8.02%
	Democratic	Leonard D. Ladner	4,697	2.55%
Total votes			183,348	100.00%

Republican Party primary results^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lamar Alexander (Incumbent)	244,222	100.00%
Total votes			244,222	100.00%

House of Representatives

District results

Republican

60–70%

70–80%

Democratic

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

>90%

Tennessee elected nine U.S. representatives, each representing one of Tennessee's nine congressional districts.

Results

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Tennessee 1	David Davis	Republican	2006	Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Republican hold.	▌Y Phil Roe (Republican) 71.8% ▌Rob Russell (Democratic) 24.5% ▌Joel Goodman (Independent) 1.7% ▌James Reeves (Independent) 1.1% ▌Thomas Owens (Independent) 0.8%
Tennessee 2	Jimmy Duncan	Republican	1998	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Jimmy Duncan (Republican) 78.1% ▌Bob Scott (Democratic) 21.9%
Tennessee 3	Zach Wamp	Republican	1994	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Zach Wamp (Republican) 69.4% ▌Doug Vandagriff (Democratic) 27.4% ▌Jean Howard-Hill (Independent) 1.8% ▌Ed Choate (Independent) 1.4%
Tennessee 4	Lincoln Davis	Democratic	2002	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Lincoln Davis (Democratic) 58.8% ▌Monty Lankford (Republican) 37.8% ▌James Anthony Gray (Independent) 1.9% ▌Kevin Ragsdale (Independent) 1.5%
Tennessee 5	Jim Cooper	Democratic	1982 1994 (retired) 2002	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Jim Cooper (Democratic) 65.9% ▌Gerard Donovan (Republican) 31.0% ▌Jon Jackson (Independent) 2.0% ▌John Miglietta (Green) 1.2%
Tennessee 6	Bart Gordon	Democratic	1984	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Bart Gordon (Democratic) 74.4% ▌Chris Baker (Independent) 25.6%
Tennessee 7	Marsha Blackburn	Republican	2002	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Marsha Blackburn (Republican) 68.6% ▌Randy Morris (Democratic) 31.4%
Tennessee 8	John Tanner	Democratic	1988	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Tanner (Democratic) Uncontested
Tennessee 9	Steve Cohen	Democratic	2006	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Steve Cohen (Democratic) 87.9% ▌Jake Ford (Independent) 4.9% ▌Dewey Clark (Independent) 4.4% ▌Mary Wright (Independent) 2.8%

State Legislature

State Senate

Elections for 16 of the 33 seats in Tennessee's State Senate were held on November 4, 2008.

After this election, Republicans had 19 seats while Democrats had 14 seats, with Republicans gaining three seats, fully flipping the senate.

State House of Representatives

The election of all 99 seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives occurred on November 4, 2008.

Republicans won 50 seats, while Democrats won 49 seats. Republicans gained four seats, flipping the house during this election.

References

^ "Official General Election Results". The Green Papers. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1] "Official General Election Results". The Green Papers. Retrieved December 12, 2008.

[2] "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".

[3] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[4] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1]

[2]

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Presidential election

President of the United States

Results

February 5, 2008, Primary Results

United States Congress

Senate

Results

House of Representatives

Results

State Legislature

State Senate

State House of Representatives

See also

References