2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee

Last updated

2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee
Flag of Tennessee.svg
←  2006 November 6, 2012 2018  →
Turnout61.86% Increase2.svg [1] 11.89 pp
  Bob Corker official Senate photo (cropped).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Bob Corker Mark Clayton
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote1,506,443705,882
Percentage64.89%30.41%
2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee results map by county.svg
2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee by Congressional District.svg
Corker:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%
Clayton:      50–60%     60–70%
U.S. senator before election

Bob Corker
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Bob Corker
Republican

The 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the general election including the 2012 U.S. presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker won a second term in a landslide, carrying all but two counties in the state.

Contents

Corker narrowly flipped reliably Democratic Davidson County, home to Nashville, which had not voted Republican on the presidential level since 1988. He faced Democratic nominee Mark E. Clayton [2] as well as several third-party candidates and several independents in this election.

Corker easily won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote, and anti-LGBT activist and conspiracy theorist Clayton won the Democratic nomination with 30% of the vote, despite raising no money and having a website that was four years out of date. [3] [4] [5]

The next day Tennessee's Democratic Party disavowed Clayton over his active role in the Public Advocate of the United States, which they described as a "known hate group". They blamed his victory among candidates for whom the TNDP provided little forums to become known on the fact that his name appeared first on the ballot, and said they would do nothing to help his campaign, urging Democrats to vote for "the write-in candidate of their choice" in November. [6] One of the Democratic candidates, Larry Crim, filed a petition seeking to offer the voters a new primary in which to select a Democratic nominee among the remaining candidates the party had affirmed as bona fide and as a preliminary motion sought a temporary restraining order against certification of the results, but after a judge denied the temporary order Crim withdrew his petition. [7]

Background

The incumbent in the race, former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, was elected in 2006 with 50.7% of the vote in a win against U.S. representative Harold Ford, Jr.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

  • Fred R. Anderson
  • Mark Twain Clemens, unemployed
  • Bob Corker, incumbent U.S. Senator
  • James Durkan, businessman
  • Brenda Lenard, businesswoman & doctoral student
  • Zach Poskevich, technology consultant

Publicly Speculated, but Declined

Polling

Hypothetical polling
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker		More conservative
challenger		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [8] February 9–13, 2011400±4.9%38%43%—19%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker		Marsha
Blackburn		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [8] February 9–13, 2011400±4.9%50%30%—20%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker		Hank
Williams, Jr.		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [8] February 9–13, 2011400±4.9%66%13%—21%

Results

Tennessee Republican primary [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Bob Corker (Incumbent) 389,483 85.25%
Republican Zach Poskevich28,2996.19%
Republican Fred Anderson15,9423.49%
Republican Mark Twain Clemens11,7882.58%
Republican Brenda Lenard11,3782.49%
Total votes456,890 100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Results

Results by county: .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Clayton 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% Davis 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% Overall 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 60-70% Hancock 30-40% Tennessee Democratic U.S. Senate primary results by county, 2012.svg
Results by county:
  Clayton
  •   20–30%
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  Davis
  •   20–30%
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  Overall
  •   20–30%
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  •   60–70%
  Hancock
  •   30–40%
Democratic primary results [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mark E. Clayton 48,126 29.99%
Democratic Gary Gene Davis24,78915.45%
Democratic Park Overall24,26315.12%
Democratic Larry Crim17,38310.83%
Democratic Benjamin Roberts16,36910.20%
Democratic David Hancock16,16710.08
Democratic Thomas Owens13,3668.33
Total votes160,463 100.00

General election

Candidates

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [15] Solid RNovember 1, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball [16] Safe RNovember 5, 2012
Rothenberg Political Report [17] Safe RNovember 2, 2012
Real Clear Politics [18] Safe RNovember 5, 2012

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Mark
Clayton (D)		OtherUndecided
Issues and Answers Network Inc. [19] October 16–21, 2011609±4%59%21%4%15%
Hypothetical polling
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Phil
Bredesen (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%41%46%—12%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Jim
Cooper (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%50%32%—22%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Harold
Ford, Jr. (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%55%32%—14%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Bart
Gordon (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%52%29%—19%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Al
Gore (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%53%38%—9%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Bob
Corker (R)		Tim
McGraw (D)		OtherUndecided
Public Policy Polling [20] February 9–13, 2011500±4.4%50%28%—22%

Results

Despite the TN Democratic Party encouraging write-in voting, the general election only saw 0.05% cast write-in votes. Clayton significantly underperformed compared to Barack Obama, running for re-election to the presidency on the same day. Clayton got about 9% and 254,827 votes fewer than Obama.

United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2012 [21]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Bob Corker (incumbent) 1,506,443 64.89% +14.18%
Democratic Mark Clayton705,88230.41%−17.59%
Green Martin Pleasant38,4721.66%+1.52%
Independent Shaun Crowell20,9360.90%N/A
Constitution Kermit Steck18,6200.80%N/A
Independent James Higdon8,0850.35%N/A
Independent Michael Joseph Long8,0800.35%N/A
Independent Troy Stephen Scoggin7,1480.31%N/A
Independent David Gatchell6,5230.28%N/A
n/a Write-ins1,2880.05%N/A
Total votes2,321,477 100.00% N/A
Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Corker carried eight of nine congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat. [22] [23]

DistrictCorkerClaytonRepresentative
1st 76.58%19.24%
Phil Roe
2nd 72.75%21.24% John J. Duncan, Jr.
3rd 70.60%25.60% Chuck Fleischmann
4th 69.30%26.31% Scott DesJarlais
5th 50.21%43.32% Jim Cooper
6th 73.32%22.04% Diane Black
7th 69.62%25.75% Marsha Blackburn
8th 70.26%26.40% Stephen Fincher
9th 28.56%67.00% Steve Cohen

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tennessee Voter Turnout in 2012". Tennessee Secretary of State. November 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  2. ↑ "2012's worst candidate? With Mark Clayton, Tennessee Democrats hit bottom." by David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post, October 22, 2012, Retrieved 2012-10-23, ""If there are people who don't believe that there's a campaign here, then guess what? They can come to Tennessee, if they're a voter, and they can see Mark E. Clayton, and next to Mark E. Clayton there's going to be a 'D,' " he said on the phone. "Like it or not, Mark Clayton is the Democratic nominee in Tennessee.""
  3. ↑ Murphy, Tim (August 3, 2012). "Dems Nominate Anti-Gay Conspiracy Theorist for Senate". Mother Jones. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Fahrenthold, David A. (May 19, 2023). "2012's worst candidate? With Mark Clayton, Tennessee Democrats hit bottom". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  5. ↑ Kenny's Sideshow (August 5, 2012). Democractic Primary Winner for Senate in Tennessee Mark Clayton Responds to Attacks . Retrieved June 11, 2024– via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Cass, Michael (August 3, 2012). "Tennessee Democratic Party disavows Senate nominee". The Tennessean . Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  7. ↑ Sisk, Chas (August 17, 2012). "Mark Clayton victory in Democratic primary upheld by Nashville judge". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 Public Policy Polling
  9. 1 2 "Tennessee Secretary of State Unofficial Election Results". Secretary of State of Tennessee. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  10. ↑ "clayton forus' – Products I Tried To Satisfy Myself" . Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Candidates GPTN".
  12. 1 2 Winger, Richard (February 3, 2012). "Tennessee Ballot Access Law for New and Minor Parties Struck Down". Ballot Access News . Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Current Candidates « The Constitution Party of Tennessee". Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Jacob Maurer - US Senate Candidate - Home". Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  15. ↑ "2012 Senate Race Ratings for November 1, 2012". The Cook Political Report. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  16. ↑ "2012 Senate". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  17. ↑ "2012 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ "2012 Elections Map - Battle for the Senate 2012". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  19. ↑ Issues and Answers Network Inc.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Public Policy Polling
  21. ↑ State of Tennessee. November 6, 2012. General Election
  22. ↑ "Detailed CD Results".
  23. ↑ Nir, David (November 19, 2020). "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012". Daily Kos .

Official campaign websites

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.