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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, defeating Democrat Marck Clayton, carrying all but two counties in the state.
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| Turnout | 61.86%  [1] 11.89 pp | ||||||||||||||||
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   .svg) Corker: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Clayton: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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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won the Democratic nomination with 30% of the vote, despite raising no money and having a website that was four years out of date.[3][4][5]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]
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.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker |
More conservative challenger |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[8] | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 38% | 43% | — | 19% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker |
Marsha Blackburn |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[8] | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 50% | 30% | — | 20% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker |
Hank Williams, Jr. |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[8] | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 66% | 13% | — | 21% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Corker (Incumbent) | 389,483 | 85.25% | |
| Republican | Zach Poskevich | 28,299 | 6.19% | |
| Republican | Fred Anderson | 15,942 | 3.49% | |
| Republican | Mark Twain Clemens | 11,788 | 2.58% | |
| Republican | Brenda Lenard | 11,378 | 2.49% | |
| Total votes | 456,890 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mark E. Clayton | 48,126 | 29.99% | |
| Democratic | Gary Gene Davis | 24,789 | 15.45% | |
| Democratic | Park Overall | 24,263 | 15.12% | |
| Democratic | Larry Crim | 17,383 | 10.83% | |
| Democratic | Benjamin Roberts | 16,369 | 10.20% | |
| Democratic | David Hancock | 16,167 | 10.08 | |
| Democratic | Thomas Owens | 13,366 | 8.33 | |
| Total votes | 160,463 | 100.00 | ||
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[15] | Solid R | November 1, 2012 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[16] | Safe R | November 5, 2012 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[17] | Safe R | November 2, 2012 |
| Real Clear Politics[18] | Safe R | November 5, 2012 |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Mark Clayton (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues and Answers Network Inc.[19] | October 16–21, 2011 | 609 | ±4% | 59% | 21% | 4% | 15% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Phil Bredesen (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 41% | 46% | — | 12% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Jim Cooper (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 50% | 32% | — | 22% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Harold Ford, Jr. (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 55% | 32% | — | 14% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Bart Gordon (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 52% | 29% | — | 19% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Al Gore (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 53% | 38% | — | 9% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Bob Corker (R) |
Tim McGraw (D) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Policy Polling[20] | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 50% | 28% | — | 22% |
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.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Corker (incumbent) | 1,506,443 | 64.89% | +14.18% | |
| Democratic | Mark Clayton | 705,882 | 30.41% | −17.59% | |
| Green | Martin Pleasant | 38,472 | 1.66% | +1.52% | |
| Independent | Shaun Crowell | 20,936 | 0.90% | N/A | |
| Constitution | Kermit Steck | 18,620 | 0.80% | N/A | |
| Independent | James Higdon | 8,085 | 0.35% | N/A | |
| Independent | Michael Joseph Long | 8,080 | 0.35% | N/A | |
| Independent | Troy Stephen Scoggin | 7,148 | 0.31% | N/A | |
| Independent | David Gatchell | 6,523 | 0.28% | N/A | |
| n/a | Write-ins | 1,288 | 0.05% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 2,321,477 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Republican hold | |||||
Corker carried 8 of the 9 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.[22][23]
| District | Corker | Clayton | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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