2012 Tennessee Senate election

For related races, see 2012 United States state legislative elections.
Not to be confused with 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee.
2012 Tennessee Senate election
← 2010 November 6, 2012 2014 →
16 of the 33 seats in the Tennessee State Senate
17 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Ron Ramsey Jim Kyle
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat 4th district 28th district
Seats before 20 13
Seats won 26 7
Seat change Increase 6 Decrease 6
Popular vote 704,393 302,714
Percentage 69.94% 30.06%
Results:
     Republican gain
     Republican hold      Democratic hold
     No Election
Vote Share:
     50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      >90%
     >90%
Speaker before election

Ron Ramsey
Republican

Elected Speaker

Ron Ramsey
Republican

The 2012 Tennessee State Senate election was held on November 6, 2012, to elect 16 of the 33 seats for the Tennessee's State Senate. The elections coincided with the Presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and State House elections. The primary elections were held on August 2, 2012.[1]

Republicans gained 6 seats, getting a supermajority in the Senate chamber.[2][3]

Retirements

Five incumbents (4 Democrats and 1 Republican) did not run for re-election in 2012. Those incumbents are:

Democrats

  1. District 10: Andy Berke retired to run for mayor of Chattanooga in 2013.
  2. District 16: Eric Stewart retired to run for Tennessee's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
  3. District 20: Joe M. Haynes retired.
  4. District 24: Roy Herron retired.

Republicans

  1. District 18: Kerry Roberts retired.

Incumbents defeated

In the primary election

Democrats

  1. District 30: Beverly Marrero lost renomination to Jim Kyle.

In the general election

Democrats

  1. District 22: Tim Barnes lost to Mark Green

Results summary

Party Candidates Votes Seats
No. % Before Up Won After +/–
Republican 15 704,393 69.94% 20 9 15 26 Increase 6
Democratic 10 302,714 30.06% 13 7 1 7 Decrease 6
Total 1,007,107 100.00% 33 16 16 33 Steady
Source: [1]
Popular vote
Republican
 
 69.94%
Democratic
 
 30.06%
Senate seats
Republican
 
 78.79%
Democratic
 
 21.21%

Closest races

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

District Winner Margin
District 22 Republican (gain) 6.16%
District 20 Republican (gain) 8.16%
District 10 Republican (gain) 8.64%

Detailed results by State Senate District

District 2 • District 4 • District 6 • District 8 • District 10 • District 12 • District 14 • District 16 • District 18 • District 20 • District 22 • District 24 • District 26 • District 28 • District 30 • District 32

District 2

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 2[4]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Doug Overbey (incumbent) 11,334 61.0
Republican Scott Hughes 7,260 39.0
Total votes 18,594 100
General election
Republican Doug Overbey (incumbent) 60,517 100
Total votes 60,517 100
Republican hold

District 4

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ron Ramsey (incumbent) 12,183 100.00%
Total votes 12,183 100.00%

General election

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 4[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ron Ramsey (incumbent) 55,913 100.00%
Total votes 55,913 100.00%
Republican hold

District 6

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Becky Duncan Massey (incumbent) 7,260 100.00%
Total votes 7,260 100.00%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Evelyn Gill 1,479 100.00%
Total votes 1,479 100.00%

General election

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 6[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Becky Duncan Massey (incumbent) 49,744 68.7
Democratic Evelyn Gill 22,691 31.3
Total votes 72,435 100
Republican hold

District 8

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 8[7]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Frank Niceley 7,021 44.6
Republican Cynthia Bundren Jackson 5,432 34.5
Republican Jeffrey Brantley 1,817 11.5
Republican Hobart Rice 1,483 9.4
Total votes 15,753 100
General election
Republican Frank Niceley 43,687 100
Total votes 43,687 100
Republican hold

District 10

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 10[8]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Andrae McGary 4,302 61.6
Democratic David Testerman 1,705 24.4
Democratic Quenston Coleman 979 14.0
Total votes 6,986 100
Republican Todd Gardenhire 8,022 50.1
Republican Greg Vital 7,982 49.9
Total votes 16,004 100
General election
Republican Todd Gardenhire 36,557 54.32%
Democratic Andrae McGary 30,745 45.68%
Total votes 67,302 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic

District 12

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ken Yager (incumbent) 18,037 100.00%
Total votes 18,037 100.00%

General election

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 12[9]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ken Yager (incumbent) 51,076 100.00%
Total votes 51,076 100.00%
Republican hold

District 14

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 14[10]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jim Tracy (incumbent) 11,174 86.7
Republican Matt Randolph 1,707 13.3
Total votes 12,881 100
General election
Republican Jim Tracy (incumbent) 50,235 100
Total votes 50,235 100
Republican hold

District 16

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 16[11]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Lewis 2,937 27.60
Democratic Steve Roller 2,902 27.27
Democratic Justin Walling 2,878 27.04
Democratic Kevin Lawrence 1,256 11.80
Democratic Jeff Bottoms 670 6.30
Total votes 10,643 100.00
Republican Janice Bowling 8,162 60.1
Republican Ron Stolzfus 2,280 16.8
Republican Eric Chance 2,277 16.8
Republican Rod McClellan 866 6.4
Total votes 13,585 100
General election
Republican Janice Bowling 40,139 62.9
Democratic Jim Lewis 23,636 37.1
Total votes 63,775 100
Republican gain from Democratic

District 18

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 18[12]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ferrell Haile 8,627 48.2
Republican Jeff Coker 7,527 42.1
Republican J. H. Tony Allers 1,370 7.7
Republican Brock Ewell 367 2.1
Total votes 17,891 100
General election
Republican Ferrell Haile 49,472 69.2
Democratic Maria Brewer 21,970 30.8
Total votes 71,442 100
Republican hold

District 20

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 20[13]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Phillip North 5,148 74.3
Democratic James Baxter 1,784 25.7
Total votes 6,932 100
Republican Steven Dickerson 5,378 48.5
Republican David Hall 3,325 30.0
Republican Rob Mortenson 2,379 21.5
Total votes 11,082 100
General election
Republican Steven Dickerson 46,254 54.08%
Democratic Phillip North 39,280 45.92%
Total votes 85,534 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic

District 22

Democratic primary

Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Tim Barnes (incumbent) 3,869 100.00%
Total votes 3,869 100.00%

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Green 4,849 100.00%
Total votes 4,849 100.00%

General election

Results by county

County Green % Barnes % Total
Houston 1,317 45.23% 1,595 54.77% 2,912
Montgomery 28,197 53.66% 24,348 46.34% 52,545
Stewart 2,449 51.42% 2,314 48.58% 4,763
County results
Green:      50–60%
Barnes:      50–60%
2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 22[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Green 31,963 53.08%
Democratic Tim Barnes (incumbent) 28,257 46.92%
Total votes 60,220 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic

District 24

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 24[15]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican John Stevens 5,419 60.9
Republican Danny Jowers 3,476 39.1
Total votes 8,895 100
General election
Republican John Stevens 38,667 56.5
Democratic Brad Thompson 29,807 43.5
Total votes 68,474 100
Republican gain from Democratic

District 26

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Dolores Gresham (incumbent) 12,179 100.00%
Total votes 12,179 100.00%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Meryl Rice 5,073 100.00%
Total votes 5,073 100.00%

General election

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 26[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Dolores Gresham (incumbent) 42,990 60.4
Democratic Meryl Rice 28,131 39.6
Total votes 71,121 100
Republican hold

District 28

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 28[17]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Joey Hensley 12,589 76.6
Republican Dean Dickey 3,847 23.4
Total votes 16,436 100
General election
Republican Joey Hensley 37,361 55.2
Democratic Tyler Cobb 30,375 44.8
Total votes 67,736 100
Republican gain from new constituency

District 30

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 30[18]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Kyle (incumbent) 7,368 55.4
Democratic Beverly Marrero (incumbent) 5,931 44.6
Total votes 13,299 100
General election
Democratic Jim Kyle (incumbent) 47,822 100
Total votes 47,822 100
Democratic hold

District 32

2012 Tennessee Senate election, District 32[19]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Norris (incumbent) 26,592 88.9
Republican Woody Degan 3,319 11.1
Total votes 29,911 100
General election
Republican Mark Norris (incumbent) 69,818 100
Total votes 69,818 100
Republican hold

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tennessee State Senate elections, 2012". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  2. ^ "Republicans Gain Supermajority In Tennessee House & Senate". WREG.com. 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  3. ^ Potter, Daniel (2012-11-07). "Historic Legislative Majority for Republicans". WPLN News. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  4. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 2". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  5. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 4". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  6. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 6". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  7. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 8". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  8. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 10". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  9. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 12". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  10. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 14". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  11. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 16". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  12. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 18". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  13. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 20". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  14. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 22". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  15. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 24". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  16. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 26". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  17. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 28". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  18. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 30". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  19. ^ "Tennessee State Senate District 32". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-09.