2010 Tennessee Senate election

2010 Tennessee Senate election
November 2, 2010
17 of the 33 seats in the Tennessee State Senate; 17 seats needed for a majority
	; Republican gain ; Republican hold Democratic hold; No Election ; 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% >90%
Speaker before election; Ron Ramsey; Republican	Elected Speaker ; Ron Ramsey; Republican

The 2010 Tennessee State Senate election was held on November 2, 2010, to elect 17 of the 33 seats for the Tennessee's State Senate. The elections coincided with the Governor, U.S. House, and State House elections. The primary elections were held on August 5, 2010.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Republicans gained 1 seat, expanding their Senate majority.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing^[4]	Likely R	November 1, 2010

Results summary

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
Party		Candidates	No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	15	480,313	63.71%	19	10	11	20	1
	Democratic	13	259,053	34.36%	14	7	6	13	1
	Independent	3	14,195	1.88%	0	0	0	0
	Write-in	1	288	0.04%	0	0	0	0
Total			753,849	100.00%	33			33
Source: [1]

Popular vote

Republican			63.71%
Democratic			34.36%
Other			1.92%

Senate seats

Republican			60.61%
Democratic			39.39%

Closest races

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

District	Winner	Margin
District 15	Democratic	0.4%
District 25	Republican (gain)	2.2%
District 27	Democratic	2.4%

District 1

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jackson West	3,180	100.00%
Total votes			3,180	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Southerland	23,292	100.00%
Total votes			23,292	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Southerland	32,310	81.40%
	Democratic	Jackson West	7,381	18.60%
Total votes			39,691	100.00%

District 3

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas Ken Owens	1,367	100.00%
Total votes			1,367	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rusty Crowe	20,236	100.00%
Total votes			20,236	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rusty Crowe	32,736	81.49%
	Democratic	Thomas Ken Owens	7,437	18.51%
Total votes			40,173	100.00%

District 5

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randy McNally	27,922	100.00%
Total votes			27,922	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randy McNally	44,067	100.00%
Total votes			44,067	100.00%

District 7

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Randy Walker	1,949	100.00%
Total votes			1,949	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stacey Campfield	7,708	62.41%
	Republican	Steve Hill	4,259	34.48%
	Republican	Nicholas Ciparro	384	3.11%
	Republican	Ron Leadbetter	0	0.00%
Total votes			12,351	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stacey Campfield	22,661	57.16%
	Democratic	Randy Walker	14,514	36.61%
	Independent	Chuck Williams	2,470	6.23%
Total votes			39,645	100.00%

District 9

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Bell	18,254	68.22%
	Republican	Lou Patten	8,502	31.78%
Total votes			26,756	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Bell	31,628	100.00%
Total votes			31,628	100.00%

District 11

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bo Watson	22,396	100.00%
Total votes			22,396	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bo Watson	42,140	100.00%
Total votes			42,140	100.00%

District 13

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Debbie Matthews	7,941	100.00%
Total votes			7,941	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Ketron	21,284	100.00%
Total votes			21,284	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Ketron	40,998	70.11%
	Democratic	Debbie Matthews	17,478	29.89%
Total votes			58,476	100.00%

District 15

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charlotte Burks	13,132	100.00%
Total votes			13,132	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gary Steakley	15,965	100.00%
Total votes			15,965	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charlotte Burks	22,800	42.07%
	Republican	Gary Steakley	22,615	41.73%
	Independent	Joe Wilmoth	8,779	16.20%
Total votes			54,194	100.00%

District 17

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George McDonald	6,282	41.82%
	Democratic	Sam Hatcher	5,879	39.14%
	Democratic	Aubrey Givens	2,861	19.04%
Total votes			15,022	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mae Beavers	13,499	48.33%
	Republican	Susan Lynn	11,860	42.47%
	Republican	Gordon Borck	2,569	9.20%
Total votes			27,928	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mae Beavers	35,927	62.62%
	Democratic	George McDonald	21,442	37.38%
Total votes			57,369	100.00%

District 19

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thelma Harper	7,009	100.00%
Total votes			7,009	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thelma Harper	24,569	100.00%
Total votes			24,569	100.00%

District 21

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Douglas Henry	5,734	50.07%
	Democratic	Jeff Yarbro	5,717	49.93%
Total votes			11,451	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steven Dickerson	5,515	57.01%
	Republican	James Chesser	4,158	42.99%
Total votes			9,673	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Douglas Henry	27,117	56.62%
	Republican	Steven Dickerson	20,775	43.38%
Total votes			47,892	100.00%

District 23

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jack Johnson	22,471	100.00%
Total votes			22,471	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jack Johnson	64,891	99.56%
	Independent	Melanie Hollis	288	0.44%
Total votes			65,179	100.00%

District 25

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Doug Jackson	12,542	100.00%
Total votes			12,542	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Summerville	13,735	100.00%
Total votes			13,735	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Summerville	21,375	51.10%
	Democratic	Doug Jackson	20,455	48.90%
Total votes			41,830	100.00%

District 27

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lowe Finney	9,996	100.00%
Total votes			9,996	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Don McLeary	13,986	65.10%
	Republican	Jim Harding	7,499	34.90%
Total votes			21,485	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lowe Finney	25,885	51.21%
	Republican	Don McLeary	24,666	48.79%
Total votes			50,551	100.00%

District 29

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ophelia Ford	14,088	100.00%
Total votes			14,088	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Hill	3,687	100.00%
Total votes			3,687	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ophelia Ford	18,234	63.23%
	Republican	Robert Hill	7,657	26.55%
	Independent	Herman Sawyer	2,946	10.22%
Total votes			28,837	100.00%

District 31

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ivon Faulkner	10,197	100.00%
Total votes			10,197	100.00%

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Kelsey	23,845	100.00%
Total votes			23,845	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Kelsey	35,267	64.50%
	Democratic	Ivon Faulkner	19,405	35.50%
Total votes			54,672	100.00%

District 33

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Reginald Tate	19,666	100.00%
Total votes			19,666	100.00%

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Reginald Tate	32,336	100.00%
Total votes			32,336	100.00%

References

^ "2010 Tennessee Senate election results" (PDF).
^ "Tennessee - Election Results 2010 - The New York Times". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
^ "Tennessee State Senate elections, 2010". Ballotpedia. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
^ Jacobson, Louis (November 1, 2010). "Update: 2010 State Legislatures: A Challenging Environment for Democrats". Governing. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2024.

[1] "2010 Tennessee Senate election results" (PDF).

[2] "Tennessee - Election Results 2010 - The New York Times". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved April 17, 2024.

[3] "Tennessee State Senate elections, 2010". Ballotpedia. Retrieved February 15, 2024.

[CE-4] Jacobson, Louis (November 1, 2010). "Update: 2010 State Legislatures: A Challenging Environment for Democrats". Governing. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2024.

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