2026 Tennessee Senate election
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17 of 33 seats in the Tennessee Senate 17 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of the incumbents: Republican incumbent Democratic incumbent No election | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Tennessee |
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 Government |
The 2026 Tennessee Senate election is scheduled to be held on November 3, 2026. Seventeen members of the thirty-three member Tennessee Senate, the upper chamber of Tennessee's state legislature, will be elected. Partisan primaries will take place on August 6, 2026. Tennessee has open primaries, meaning that any voter can choose to vote on either a Republican or Democratic ballot during primary elections.[1]
The election will be held alongside elections for numerous other federal, state, and local offices in Tennessee as part of the 2026 United States elections.
Election schedule
[edit]- March 10: Candidate petitioning deadline[2]
- March 17: Candidate withdrawal deadline[2]
- August 6: Primary election day[2]
- July 7: Voter registration deadline
- May 8 – July 27: Absentee postal voting available
- July 17 – August 1: Early in-person voting available
- November 3: General election day[2]
- October 5: Voter registration deadline
- August 5 – October 24: Absentee mail voting available
- October 14 – 29: Early in-person voting available
Summary of results
[edit]| No. | Incumbent | Party | Elected Senator | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | J. Adam Lowe | Rep | TBD | |||
| 3rd | Rusty Crowe | Rep | TBD | |||
| 5th | Randy McNally | Rep | TBD | |||
| 7th | Richard Briggs | Rep | TBD | |||
| 9th | Steve Southerland | Rep | TBD | |||
| 11th | Bo Watson | Rep | TBD | |||
| 13th | Dawn White | Rep | TBD | |||
| 15th | Paul Bailey | Rep | TBD | |||
| 17th | Mark Pody | Rep | TBD | |||
| 19th | Charlane Oliver | Dem | TBD | |||
| 21st | Jeff Yarbro | Dem | TBD | |||
| 23rd | Kerry Roberts | Rep | TBD | |||
| 25th | Ed Jackson | Rep | TBD | |||
| 27th | Jack Johnson | Rep | TBD | |||
| 29th | Raumesh Akbari | Dem | TBD | |||
| 31st | Brent Taylor | Rep | TBD | |||
| 33rd | London Lamar | Dem | TBD | |||
Background
[edit]
| No. | Counties | 2022 state senate margin |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea | R+66.1 |
| 3rd | Carter, Johnson, Washington | R+49.9 |
| 5th | Anderson, Knox, Loudon | R+99.9 |
| 7th | Knox | R+24.7 |
| 9th | Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Sevier, Unicoi | R+65.8 |
| 11th | Hamilton | R+100 |
| 13th | Rutherford | R+29.4 |
| 15th | Cumberland, Jackson, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, White | R+100 |
| 17th | Davidson, Wilson | R+100 |
| 19th | Davidson | D+65.8 |
| 21st | Davidson | D+53.4 |
| 23rd | Cheatham, Dickson, Humphreys, Hickman, Robertson | R+100 |
| 25th | Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Henderson, Lake, Perry, Madison | R+58.8 |
| 27th | Williamson | R+100 |
| 29th | Shelby | D+100 |
| 31st | Shelby | R+32.6 |
| 33rd | Shelby | D+62.81 |
District 1
[edit]District 1 covers much of rural East Tennessee bordering Hamilton County and Georgia. The district includes all of Rhea, Meigs, and McMinn Counties and part of Bradley County. Communities in the district include Dayton, Decatur, Athens, and Cleveland.[3]
District 3
[edit]District 3 is based in Johnson City, the southernmost Tri-Cities, covering all of Johnson, Washington,and Carter County. Other communities in the district include Elizabethton, Jonesborough, Erwin, Oak Grove, and Unicoi.[4]
District 5
[edit]District 5 covers all of Anderson and Loudon Counties and part of Knox County in the Knoxville metropolitan area, including some of Knoxville proper as well as the surrounding communities of Clinton, Lenoir City, Loudon, Tellico Village, Oliver Springs, and northern Oak Ridge.[5]
District 7
[edit]District 7 covers swath of Knox County, including parts of downtown Knoxville as well as nearby suburbs such as Farragut.[6]
District 9
[edit]District 9 is located to the northeast of Knoxville, and stretches to areas outside of the Tri-Cities region. It includes parts of the Morristown Metropolitan Area. It covers Sevier, Greene, Hamblen, Cocke, and Unicoi counties. Some notable cities in the district include Morristown, Newport, Gatlinburg, and Greeneville.[7]
District 11
[edit]District 11 is based in the northern suburbs of Chattanooga in Hamilton County, including some of the city proper as well as Soddy-Daisy, Middle Valley, Signal Mountain, Harrison, and part of Collegedale and Red Bank.[8]
District 13
[edit]District 13 is based in Murfreesboro, including most of the city proper and part of Smyrna and western Rutherford County.[9]
District 15
[edit]District 15 covers much of rural Middle Tennessee, including all of Cumberland, Jackson, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, and White Counties. Communities in the district include Cookeville, Crossville, Sparta, Fairfield Glade, Lake Tansi Village, Algood, Monterey, and Gainesboro.[10]
District 17
[edit]District 17 covers rural and suburban and urban Middle Tennessee. It covers all of Wilson and the eastern part of Davidson County. Communities in the district includes Mount Juliet, Lebanon, Green Hill and part of Nashville.[11]
District 19
[edit]District 19 is based in downtown Nashville, covering some or all of North Nashville, Antioch, East Nashville, Madison, and Goodlettsville. The district, located in Davidson County, is the only majority-Black Senate district in the state outside of Memphis.[12]
District 21
[edit]District 21 is a convoluted district covering much of central Nashville and its inner suburbs in Davidson County, snaking its way from the Nations and Sylvan Park, down to Berry Hill and Grassmere, eastwards to the border of La Vergne. Vanderbilt University and part of the Nashville International Airport is located within the district.[13]
District 23
[edit]District 23 is based in the rural and suburban areas to the west of Nashville, covering all of Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Humphreys, Robertson Counties, and part of Montgomery County. Communities in the district include Springfield, Dickson, Ashland City, Waverly, Greenbrier, Coopertown, Centerville, Pleasant View, White Bluff, and parts of White House, Portland, and Millersville.
District 25
[edit]District 25 spans the state's border along the Mississippi River, also stretching inland to cover the city of Jackson. The district covers all of Crockett, Dyer, Lake, Madison, Henderson, Decatur, and Perry Counties; other communities within the district include Dyersburg, Tiptonville, Newbern, and Alamo.[14]
District 27
[edit]District 27 covers most of Williamson County in the southern suburbs of Nashville, including the communities of Franklin, Brentwood, Fairview, Nolensville. It also includes most of Thompson's Station and part of Spring Hill.[15]
District 29
[edit]District 29 is based in Memphis, following the Mississippi River to cover parts of South and Downtown Memphis – including much of historic Beale Street – as well as Millington and other unincorporated Shelby County suburbs to the north.[16]
District 31
[edit]District 31 covers parts of Memphis and its immediate suburbs to the east, including most of Germantown and most of Collierville, and some of unincorporated Shelby County.[17]
District 33
[edit]District 33 is based in South and Southwest Memphis, also covering small parts of Germantown, Collierville, and other Shelby County suburbs.[18]
See also
[edit]- 2026 Tennessee elections
- 2026 Tennessee House of Representatives election
- List of Tennessee General Assemblies
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Leyva, Diani (October 15, 2024). "How to update your political party in Tennessee? What to know before early voting and the presidential election". The Tennessean. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "2026 Elections". Knox County, Tennessee. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
- ^ "Senate District 9 – Sen. Steve Southerland". wapp.capitol.tn.gov. Tennessee General Assembly. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- ^ "Tennessee District Maps". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 26, 2020.