Tennessee 2010 Election Results

Tennessee held its general election on November 2, 2010, deciding 116 legislative seats and the office of Governor. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans captured the open governor's office, giving them the governorship and both legislative chambers for the first time in modern history and putting them in charge of drawing Tennessee's new district lines after the 2010 census, their first time in complete charge of redistricting.
• Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R) beat Mike McWherter (D), son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, by about 32 points to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Bredesen (D). McWherter was outspent 5-to-1 over the campaign.
• Republicans turned a razor-thin House majority of 50-48-1 into 64-34-1 and edged the Senate from 19-14 to 20-13. All 13 incumbents who lost were Democrats:
  • Jim Summerville (R) ousted Sen. Doug Jackson (D) by about 900 votes in Senate District 25.
  • Bill Sanderson (R) beat Rep. Judy Barker (D) by fewer than 300 votes in House District 77, and Julia Cheyanne Hurley (R) unseated Rep. Dennis Ferguson (D) by about 1,000 in House District 32.
  • Reps. Jim Hackworth (D) and Leslie Winningham (D) also lost, in House District 33 and House District 38.
• House Speaker Kent Williams (I) held House District 4 as an independent, beating Jerome Cochran (R) by about 15 points. Republicans had removed him from the GOP after he worked with Democrats to win the speakership. In January the new majority chose Beth Harwell (R) as Speaker, the first woman to hold the post.
• Democrats survived two near misses. Sen. Charlotte Burks (D) held Senate District 15 by 185 votes over Gary Steakley (R), and former Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D), who held the post longer than anyone in state history, kept his seat in House District 81 by about 440 votes over Jim Hardin (R).
• Voters approved the lone constitutional amendment, which added a right to hunt and fish.

Legislature

• House (99 seats): 48 D, 50 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 34 D, 64 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (33 seats): 14 D, 19 R before the election, 13 D, 19 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures