2012 Tennessee Senate election explained

2012 Tennessee Senate election should not be confused with 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee.

Election Name:	2012 Tennessee Senate election
Country:	Tennessee
Type:	legislative
Previous Year:	2010
Next Election:	2014 Tennessee Senate election
Next Year:	2014
Seats For Election:	16 of the 33 seats in the Tennessee State Senate
Majority Seats:	17
Election Date:	November 6, 2012
Leader1:	Ron Ramsey
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Leaders Seat1:	4th district
Seats Before1:	20
Seats1:	26
Seat Change1:	6
Popular Vote1:	704,393
Percentage1:	69.94%
Leader2:	Jim Kyle
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Leaders Seat2:	28th district
Seats Before2:	13
Seats Needed2:	4
Seats2:	7
Seat Change2:	6
Popular Vote2:	302,714
Percentage2:	30.06%
Speaker
Before Election:	Ron Ramsey
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Ron Ramsey
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)
Previous Election:	2010 Tennessee Senate election

The 2012 Tennessee State Senate election was held on November 6, 2012, to elect 16 of the 33 seats for the Tennessee's State Senate. The elections coincided with the Presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and State House elections. The primary elections were held on August 2, 2012.^[1]

Republicans gained 6 seats, getting a supermajority in the Senate chamber.^{[2] [3]}

Retirements

Five incumbents (4 Democrats and 1 Republican) did not run for re-election in 2012. Those incumbents are:

Democrats

1. District 10: Andy Berke retired to run for mayor of Chattanooga in 2013.
2. District 16: Eric Stewart retired to run for Tennessee's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
3. District 20: Joe M. Haynes retired.
4. District 24: Roy Herron retired.

Republicans

1. District 18: Kerry Roberts retired.

Incumbents defeated

In the primary election

Democrats

1. District 30: Beverly Marrero lost renomination to Jim Kyle.

In the general election

Democrats

1. District 22: Tim Barnes lost to Mark Green

Results summary

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
				%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	15	704,393	69.94%	20	9	15	26	6
	Democratic	10	302,714	30.06%	13	7	1	7	6
Total			1,007,107	100.00%	33	16	16	33
Source: https://sos.tn.gov/elections/results#2012

Closest races

Three races were decided by a margin of under 10%:

District	Winner	Margin
District 22	data-sort-value=1 (gain)	6.16%
District 20	data-sort-value=1 (gain)	8.16%
District 10	data-sort-value=1 (gain)	8.64%

Detailed results by State Senate District

align=center

District 2 • District 4 • District 6 • District 8 • District 10 • District 12 • District 14 • District 16 • District 18 • District 20 • District 22 • District 24 • District 26 • District 28 • District 30 • District 32

District 4

General election

District 6

General election

District 12

General election

District 22

Republican primary

General election

Results by county

County	Green	%	Barnes	%	Total
	Houston	1,317	45.23%	1,595	54.77%	2,912
	Montgomery	28,197	53.66%	24,348	46.34%	52,545
	Stewart	2,449	51.42%	2,314	48.58%	4,763

District 26

General election

District 32

See also

• 2012 Tennessee elections
• 2012 Tennessee House of Representatives election

References

1. Web site: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2012 . 2024-02-15 . Ballotpedia . en.
2. Web site: 2012-11-07 . Republicans Gain Supermajority In Tennessee House & Senate . 2024-02-15 . WREG.com . en-US.
3. Web site: Potter . Daniel . 2012-11-07 . Historic Legislative Majority for Republicans . 2024-02-15 . WPLN News . en-US.