2020 Tennessee elections

Tennessee state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. 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 6, 2020.

Presidential election

President of the United States

In 2020, Tennessee was a stronghold for the Republican Party, and was considered a reliable "red state." Tennessee had 11 electoral votes in the Electoral College at the time. In the general election, Incumbent United States President Donald Trump won Tennessee with 60.66% of the vote.

The presidential primaries were held on March 3, 2020. Donald Trump won the Republican primary in a landslide victory over former congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois and former governor Bill Weld of Massachusetts. Vice President Joe Biden garnered the Democratic nomination, beating out Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Results

2020 United States presidential election in Tennessee^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Donald Trump Mike Pence	1,852,475	60.66	–0.06
	Democratic	Joe Biden Kamala Harris	1,143,711	37.45	+2.73
	Independent^[a]	Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen	29,877	0.98	–1.83
	Independent	Kanye West Michelle Tidball	10,279	0.34	N/A
	Independent^[b]	Don Blankenship William Mohr	5,365	0.18	+0.12
	Independent^[c]	Howie Hawkins Angela Walker	4,545	0.15	–0.49
	Independent^[d]	Alyson Kennedy Malcolm Jarrett	2,576	0.08	–0.04
	Independent^[e]	Gloria La Riva Sunil Freeman	2,301	0.08%	N/A
	Independent^[f]	Rocky De La Fuente Darcy Richardson	1,860	0.06	–0.10
	American Solidarity	Brian T. Carroll (write-in) Amar Patel (write-in)	762	0.02	N/A
	Independent	Jade Simmons (write-in) Claudeliah Roze (write-in)	68	0.00	N/A
	Independent	Tom Hoefling (write-in) Andy Prior (write-in)	31	0.00%	N/A
	Independent	R19 Boddie (write-in) Eric Stoneham (write-in)	1	0.00%	N/A
	Independent	Kasey Wells (write-in) Rachel Wells (write-in)	0	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			3,053,851	100.00%
	Republican win

March 3, 2020 primary results

2020 Tennessee Democratic presidential primary^[2]
Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates^[3]
Joe Biden	215,390	41.72	36^[g]
Bernie Sanders	129,168	25.02	22^[h]
Michael Bloomberg	79,789	15.46	5^[i]
Elizabeth Warren	53,732	10.41	1
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn)^[j]	17,102	3.31
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn)^[j]	10,671	2.07
Tulsi Gabbard	2,278	0.44
Tom Steyer (withdrawn)^[j]	1,932	0.37
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)	1,650	0.32
Andrew Yang (withdrawn)	1,097	0.21
Cory Booker (withdrawn)	953	0.18
Marianne Williamson (withdrawn)	498	0.10
John Delaney (withdrawn)	378	0.07
Julian Castro (withdrawn)	239	0.05
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)	182	0.04
Uncommitted	1,191	0.23
Total	516,250	100%	64

2020 Tennessee Republican primary^[4]
Candidate	Votes	%	Estimated delegates
Donald Trump	384,266	96.47	58
Joe Walsh (withdrawn)	4,178	1.05	0
Bill Weld	3,922	0.98	0
Uncommitted	5,948	1.49	0
Total	398,314	100%	58

United States Congress

Senate

Incumbent Republican Senator Lamar Alexander announced that he would not run for re-election on December 17, 2018.^[5] Environmentalist, activist and Democratic nominee Marquita Bradshaw, the first black woman to win a major political party nomination in any statewide race in Tennessee,^[6] was defeated by Republican nominee Bill Hagerty, former United States Ambassador to Japan and former Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.^[7]

Results

2020 United States Senate election in Tennessee^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Bill Hagerty	1,840,926	62.20%	+0.33%
	Democratic	Marquita Bradshaw	1,040,691	35.16%	+3.29%
	Independent	Elizabeth McLeod	16,652	0.56%	N/A
	Independent	Yomi Faparusi	10,727	0.36%	N/A
	Independent	Stephen Hooper	9,609	0.32%	N/A
	Independent	Kacey Morgan (withdrawn)	9,598	0.32%	N/A
	Independent	Ronnie Henley	8,478	0.30%	N/A
	Independent	Aaron James	7,203	0.29%	N/A
	Independent	Eric William Stansberry	6,781	0.23%	N/A
	Independent	Dean Hill	4,872	0.16%	N/A
	Independent	Jeffrey Grunau	4,160	0.14%	N/A
	Write-in		64	0.00%	±0.00%
Total votes			2,959,761	100.0%
	Republican hold

August 6, 2020 primary results

Results by county:

Bradshaw

Bradshaw—60–70%
Bradshaw—50–60%
Bradshaw—40–50%
Bradshaw—<40%

Mackler/Davis tie

Mackler/Davis tie—<40%

Kimbrough

Kimbrough—<40%

Mackler

Mackler—<40%
Mackler—<40–50%

Davis

Davis—<40%

Democratic primary results^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Marquita Bradshaw	117,962	35.51%
	Democratic	Robin Kimbrough Hayes	88,492	26.64%
	Democratic	James Mackler	78,966	23.77%
	Democratic	Gary G. Davis	30,758	9.26%
	Democratic	Mark Pickrell	16,045	4.83%
Total votes			332,223	100.00%

Results by county:

Hagerty

Hagerty—70–80%
Hagerty—60–70%
Hagerty—50–60%
Hagerty—40–50%
Hagerty—<40%

Sethi

Sethi—40–50%
Sethi—50–60%

Republican primary results^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Hagerty	331,267	50.75%
	Republican	Manny Sethi	257,223	39.41%
	Republican	George Flinn, Jr.	22,454	3.44%
	Republican	Jon Henry	8,104	1.24%
	Republican	Natisha Brooks	8,072	1.24%
	Republican	Byron Bush	5,420	0.83%
	Republican	Clifford Adkins	5,316	0.81%
	Republican	Terry Dicus	2,279	0.35%
	Republican	Tom Emerson, Jr.	2,252	0.35%
	Republican	David Schuster	2,045	0.31%
	Republican	John Osborne	1,877	0.29%
	Republican	Roy Dale Cope	1,791	0.27%
	Republican	Kent Morrell	1,769	0.27%
	Republican	Aaron Pettigrew	1,622	0.25%
	Republican	Glen Neal, Jr.	1,233	0.19%
Total votes			652,724	100.00%

House of Representatives

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

Results

District	Republican		Democratic		Others		Total		Result

	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	228,181	74.71%	68,617	22.47%	8,625	2.82%	305,423	100.0%	Republican hold
District 2	238,907	67.64%	109,684	31.06%	4,606	1.30%	353,197	100.0%	Republican hold
District 3	215,571	67.30%	97,687	30.50%	7,041	2.20%	320,299	100.0%	Republican hold
District 4	223,802	66.67%	111,908	33.33%	0	0.00%	335,710	100.0%	Republican hold
District 5	0	0.00%	252,155	99.99%	14	0.01%	252,169	100.0%	Democratic hold
District 6	257,572	73.68%	83,852	23.99%	8,154	2.33%	349,578	100.0%	Republican hold
District 7	245,188	69.93%	95,839	27.33%	9,608	2.74%	350,635	100.0%	Republican hold
District 8	227,216	68.47%	97,890	29.50%	6,747	2.03%	331,853	100.0%	Republican hold
District 9	48,818	20.10%	187,905	77.37%	6,157	2.53%	242,880	100.0%	Democratic hold
Total	1,685,255	59.30%	1,105,537	38.90%	50,952	1.79%	2,841,744	100.0%

Popular vote

Republican			59.30%
Democratic			38.90%
Other			1.79%

House seats

Republican			77.78%
Democratic			22.22%

State legislature

State Senate

Results by senate districts

Winners:

Republican hold

Democratic hold

Democratic gain

No election

Elections for 16 of the 33 seats in Tennessee's State Senate were held on November 3, 2020. There was 1 open seat, and 15 incumbents that ran for re-election.^[11]

Summary of the November 3, 2020 Tennessee Senate election results
Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
Party		Candidates	No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	15	939,727	71.41	28	15	14	27	1
	Democratic	10	321,494	24.43	5	1	2	6	1
	Independent	3	52,928	4.02	0	0	0	0
	Write-in	2	1,777	0.14	0	0	0	0
Total			1,315,926	100	33	16	16	33
Source: [1]

Popular vote

Republican			71.41%
Democratic			24.43%
Other			4.16%

Senate seats

Republican			81.82%
Democratic			18.18%

Close races

Two races were decided by a margin of under 10%:

District	Winner	Margin
District 10	Republican	6.32%
District 20	Democratic (gain)	3.52%

State House of Representatives

Results by State House districts

Winners:

Republican hold

Democratic hold

Democratic gain

The election of all 99 seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives occurred on November 3, 2020.

The Democratic Party retook the 90th district, where the incumbent John DeBerry had defected to become an independent. The Republican Party maintained their supermajority in the state house.

Summary of the November 3, 2020 Tennessee House election results
Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
Party		Candidates	No.	%	No.	+/–
	Republican	79	1,740,193	67.24	73
	Democratic	58 (+1 write-in)	800,069	30.92	26	1
	Independent	8	46,611	1.80	0	1
	Write-in		974	0.04	0
Total			2,587,847	100.00	99
Source: [2]

Popular vote

Republican			67.24%
Democratic			30.92%
Independent			1.80%
Write-ins			0.04%

House seats

Republican			73.74%
Democratic			26.26%

Close races

Seven races were decided by a margin of under 10%:

District	Winner	Margin
District 97	Republican	1.6%
District 13	Democratic	5.8%
District 49	Republican	7.8%
District 83	Republican	8.0%
District 56	Democratic	8.4%
District 18	Republican	9.8%
District 67	Democratic	9.8%

Notes

^ Jorgensen and Cohen were nominated by the Libertarian Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ Blankenship and Mohr were nominated by the Constitution Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ Hawkins and Walker were nominated by the Green Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ Kennedy and Jarrett were nominated by the Socialist Workers Party but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ La Riva and Freeman were nominated by the Party for Socialism and Liberation but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ De La Fuente and Richardson were nominated by the Alliance Party but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.
^ 33 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.
^ 20 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.
^ 10 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.
^ ^a ^b ^c Candidate withdrew shortly before the primary, after early voting started.

References

^ State of Tennessee General Election Results, November 3, 2020, Results By Office (PDF) (Report). Secretary of State of Tennessee. December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
^ "March 3, 2020 Democratic Presidential Preference Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
^ "2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: Tennessee Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
^ "March 3, 2020 Republican Presidential Preference Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
^ Everett, Burgess [@burgessev] (December 17, 2018). "HOLY COW Lamar Alexander: "I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020"" (Tweet). Retrieved December 17, 2018 – via Twitter.
^ Plazas, David. "Marquita Bradshaw could make history in Tennessee Senate race, but the fight is uphill all the way | Plazas". The Tennessean. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
^ "U.S. Ambassador Bill Hagerty to run for U.S. Senate, says his boss, President Trump, in endorsement tweet". timesfreepress.com. July 12, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
^ State of Tennessee General Election Results, November 3, 2020, Results By Office (PDF) (Report). Secretary of State of Tennessee. December 2, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
^ "State of Tennessee – August 6, 2020 Democratic Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^ "State of Tennessee – August 6, 2020 Republican Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^ "Tennessee State Senate elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 9, 2020.

External links

Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Tennessee", Voting & Elections Toolkits
"Tennessee: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
"League of Women Voters of Tennessee". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
Tennessee at Ballotpedia
"Election Guides: Tennessee", Spreadthevote.org, archived from the original on October 4, 2020, retrieved October 7, 2020. (Guidance to help voters get to the polls; addresses transport, childcare, work, and information challenges)
"State Elections Legislation Database", Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures, State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020

[2] Jorgensen and Cohen were nominated by the Libertarian Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[3] Blankenship and Mohr were nominated by the Constitution Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[4] Hawkins and Walker were nominated by the Green Party of Tennessee but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[5] Kennedy and Jarrett were nominated by the Socialist Workers Party but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[6] La Riva and Freeman were nominated by the Party for Socialism and Liberation but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[7] De La Fuente and Richardson were nominated by the Alliance Party but placed on the ballot as independents because the party did not have ballot access.

[tennesseestatewide1-10] 33 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.

[tennesseestatewide2-11] 20 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.

[tennesseestatewide3-12] 10 delegates, if Bloomberg's statewide delegates would have been calculated.

[WithdrewBeforeST-tn-13] Candidate withdrew shortly before the primary, after early voting started.

[1] State of Tennessee General Election Results, November 3, 2020, Results By Office (PDF) (Report). Secretary of State of Tennessee. December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

[8] "March 3, 2020 Democratic Presidential Preference Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

[9] "2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: Tennessee Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved July 4, 2020.

[14] "March 3, 2020 Republican Presidential Preference Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

[everett-alexander-retirement-15] Everett, Burgess [@burgessev] (December 17, 2018). "HOLY COW Lamar Alexander: "I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020"" (Tweet). Retrieved December 17, 2018 – via Twitter.

[16] Plazas, David. "Marquita Bradshaw could make history in Tennessee Senate race, but the fight is uphill all the way | Plazas". The Tennessean. Retrieved September 11, 2020.

[17] "U.S. Ambassador Bill Hagerty to run for U.S. Senate, says his boss, President Trump, in endorsement tweet". timesfreepress.com. July 12, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2020.

[18] State of Tennessee General Election Results, November 3, 2020, Results By Office (PDF) (Report). Secretary of State of Tennessee. December 2, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

[tnsosd-19] "State of Tennessee – August 6, 2020 Democratic Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

[r-primaries-results-sos-20] "State of Tennessee – August 6, 2020 Republican Primary" (PDF). Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

[21] "Tennessee State Senate elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 9, 2020.

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2020 Tennessee elections

Presidential election

President of the United States

Results

United States Congress

Senate

Results

House of Representatives

Results

State legislature

State Senate

Close races

State House of Representatives

Close races

See also

Notes

References

External links