| Election Name: | 1870 Tennessee gubernatorial election |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 1869 |
| Next Election: | 1872 Tennessee gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 1872 |
| Election Date: | November 8, 1870 |
| Image1: | File:JCBrown-tn-gov-gen.jpg |
| Nominee1: | John C. Brown |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 78,979 |
| Percentage1: | 65.55% |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Dewitt Clinton Senter |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | John C. Brown |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Nominee2: | William H. Wisener |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 41,500 |
| Percentage2: | 34.45% |
The 1870 Tennessee gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1870, to elect the next governor of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican Governor Dewitt Clinton Senter did not seek re-election. Democratic candidate and former Confederate Army officer John C. Brown defeated Republican candidate and former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives William H. Wisener with 65.55% of the vote.[1]
Although John C. Brown had been a Whig before the Civil War, Brown joined the Democratic Party after the war, and was nominated as the party's candidate for governor in 1870. Since the 1870 Constitution of Tennessee restored voting rights to ex-Confederates, Brown easily defeated his Republican opponent, William H. Wisener of Shelbyville, by a 78,979 to 41,500 vote.[2]