1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee explained

Election Name:1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee
Country:Tennessee
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1982 United States Senate election in Tennessee
Previous Year:1982
Next Election:1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee
Next Year:1994
Election Date:November 8, 1988
Image1:Jim Sasser (1).jpg
Nominee1:Jim Sasser
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:1,020,061
Percentage1:65.09%
Nominee2:Bill Andersen
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:541,033
Percentage2:34.52%
Map Size:300px
U.S. Senator
Before Election:Jim Sasser
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Jim Sasser
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1988 United States election in Tennessee was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Sasser won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Bill Andersen with 65.1% of the vote.

As of, this was the last time the Democrats won the Class 1 Senate seat from Tennessee.

Major candidates

Democratic

Republican

Campaign

Sasser raised $1.5 million in 1987 to ward off significant opposition according to his aide Doug Hall. Andersen started raising funds for a congressional campaign in 1985, under the belief that U.S. Representative Jimmy Quillen would retire, but Quillen sought reelection. Andersen instead switched to a senatorial campaign.

Sasser declined to acknowledge Andersen's attacks during the campaign and instead focused on his congressional work while his staff responded to the attacks. Andersen called for six televised debates, but Sasser rejected the demand and only accepted one debate in Nashville.

After the election Andersen stated that polling conducted by his campaign reported that "one out of three Tennesseans had not yet identified who I was and what my message means".

Sasser won every county in the state except for two. He received 58% of the vote in the eastern region of the state which is usually Republican, 68% in the middle, and 71% in the west.

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Bill
Anderson
Jim
Sasser
Other /
Undecided
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategydata-sort-value="2022-09-07" Early October27%62%11%
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategydata-sort-value="2022-09-07" October 26–28, 198826%65%9%

See also

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. Book: Southern Politics in the 1990s. 9780807166772. Lamis. Alexander P.. August 1999. LSU Press .