2010 Tennessee Senate election

For related races, see 2010 United States state legislative elections.

2010 Tennessee Senate election

← 2008 November 2, 2010 2012 →
17 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 2nd district 28th district Seats before 19 14 Seats won 20 13 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 480,313 259,053 Percentage 63.71% 34.36% Swing 14.49% 9.74%
Results by gains and holds Results by winning party vote share Results:      Republican gain      Republican hold      Democratic hold      No Election Vote Share:      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
			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

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Jackson West	3,180	Nominee
Republican	Steve Southerland	23,292	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Jackson West	7,381	18.6%
Republican	Steve Southerland	32,310	81.4%	✔

District 3

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Thomas Ken Owens	1,367	Nominee
Republican	Rusty Crowe	20,236	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Thomas Ken Owens	7,437	18.5%
Republican	Rusty Crowe	32,736	81.5%	✔

District 5

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	No candidates filed
Republican	Randy McNally	27,922	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Republican	Randy McNally	44,067	100%	✔

District 7

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Randy Walker	1,949	Nominee
Republican	Stacey Campfield	7,708	Nominee
Republican	Steve Hill	4,259
Republican	Nicholas Ciparro	384
Republican	Ron Leadbetter	0

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Randy Walker	14,514	36.6%
Republican	Stacey Campfield	22,661	57.2%	✔
Independent	Chuck Williams	2,470	6.2%

District 9

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	No candidates filed
Republican	Mike Bell	18,254	Nominee
Republican	Lou Patten	8,502

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Republican	Mike Bell	31,628	100%	✔

District 11

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	No candidates filed
Republican	Bo Watson	22,396	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Republican	Bo Watson	42,140	100%	✔

District 13

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Debbie Matthews	7,941	Nominee
Republican	Bill Ketron	21,284	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Debbie Matthews	17,478	29.9%
Republican	Bill Ketron	40,998	70.1%	✔

District 15

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Charlotte Burks	13,132	Nominee
Republican	Gary Steakley	15,965	Nominee
Independent	Joe Wilmoth	—	Qualified

General election

Results by precinct

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Charlotte Burks	22,800	42.1%	✔
Republican	Gary Steakley	22,615	41.7%
Independent	Joe Wilmoth	8,779	16.2%

District 17

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	George McDonald	6,282	Nominee
Democratic	Sam Hatcher	5,879
Democratic	Aubrey Givens	2,861
Republican	Mae Beavers	13,499	Nominee
Republican	Susan Lynn	11,860
Republican	Gordon Borck	2,569

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	George McDonald	21,442	37.4%
Republican	Mae Beavers	35,927	62.6%	✔

District 19

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Thelma Harper	7,009	Nominee
Republican	No candidates filed

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Thelma Harper	24,569	100%	✔

District 21

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Jeff Yarbro	5,717
Democratic	Douglas Henry	5,734	Nominee
Republican	Steven Dickerson	5,515	Nominee
Republican	James Chesser	4,158

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Douglas Henry	27,117	56.6%	✔
Republican	Steven Dickerson	20,775	43.4%

District 23

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	No candidates filed
Republican	Jack Johnson	22,471	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Republican	Jack Johnson	64,891	99.6%	✔
Independent	Melanie Hollis (write-in)	288	0.4%

District 25

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Doug Jackson	12,542	Nominee
Republican	Jim Summerville	13,735	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Doug Jackson	20,455	48.9%
Republican	Jim Summerville	21,375	51.1%	✔

District 27

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Lowe Finney	9,996	Nominee
Republican	Don McLeary	13,986	Nominee
Republican	Jim Harding	7,499

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Lowe Finney	25,885	51.2%	✔
Republican	Don McLeary	24,666	48.8%

District 29

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Ophelia Ford	14,088	Nominee
Republican	Robert Hill	3,687	Nominee
Independent	Herman Sawyer	—	Qualified

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Ophelia Ford	18,234	64.2%	✔
Republican	Robert Hill	7,657	26.6%
Independent	Herman Sawyer	2,946	10.2%

District 31

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Ivon Faulkner	10,197	Nominee
Republican	Brian Kelsey	23,845	Nominee

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Ivon Faulkner	19,405	35.5%
Republican	Brian Kelsey	35,267	64.5%	✔

District 33

Primaries

Party	Candidate	Votes	Result
Democratic	Reginald Tate	19,666	Nominee
Republican	No candidates filed

General election

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
Democratic	Reginald Tate	32,336	100%	✔

See also

• 2010 Tennessee elections
• 2010 Tennessee House of Representatives election

References

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.
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.