2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee should not be confused with 2012 Tennessee Senate election.
| Election Name: | 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2006 United States Senate election in Tennessee |
| Previous Year: | 2006 |
| Next Election: | 2018 United States Senate election in Tennessee |
| Next Year: | 2018 |
| Election Date: | November 6, 2012 |
| Turnout: | 61.86% [1] 11.89 pp |
| Image1: | File:Bob Corker official Senate photo (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Bob Corker |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,506,443 |
| Percentage1: | 64.89% |
| Nominee2: | Mark Clayton |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 705,882 |
| Percentage2: | 30.41% |
| U.S. Senator | |
| Before Election: | Bob Corker |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Bob Corker |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the general election including the 2012 U.S. presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker won a second term in a landslide, defeating Democrat Marck Clayton, carrying all but two counties in the state.
Corker narrowly flipped reliably Democratic Davidson County, home to Nashville, which had not voted Republican on the presidential level since 1988. He faced Democratic nominee Mark E. Clayton[2] as well as several third-party candidates and several independents in this election.
Corker easily won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote, and anti-LGBT activist and conspiracy theorist Clayton won the Democratic nomination with 30% of the vote, despite raising no money and having a website that was four years out of date.[3] [4] [5]
The next day Tennessee's Democratic Party disavowed Clayton over his active role in the Public Advocate of the United States, which they described as a "known hate group". They blamed his victory among candidates for whom the TNDP provided little forums to become known on the fact that his name appeared first on the ballot, and said they would do nothing to help his campaign, urging Democrats to vote for "the write-in candidate of their choice" in November.[6] One of the Democratic candidates, Larry Crim, filed a petition seeking to offer the voters a new primary in which to select a Democratic nominee among the remaining candidates the party had affirmed as bona fide and as a preliminary motion sought a temporary restraining order against certification of the results, but after a judge denied the temporary order Crim withdrew his petition.[7]
The incumbent in the race, former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, was elected in 2006 with 50.7% of the vote in a win against U.S. representative Harold Ford, Jr.
| Source | Ranking | As of | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | The Cook Political Report[14] | November 1, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Sabato's Crystal Ball[15] | November 5, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Rothenberg Political Report[16] | November 2, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Real Clear Politics[17] | November 5, 2012 |
Despite the TN Democratic Party encouraging write-in voting, the general election only saw 0.05% cast write-in votes. Clayton significantly underperformed compared to Barack Obama, running for re-election to the presidency on the same day. Clayton got about 9% and 254,827 votes fewer than Obama.
Corker carried 8 of the 9 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.[20] [21]
| District | Corker | Clayton | Representative | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76.58% | 19.24% | |||||
| Phil Roe | ||||||
| 72.75% | 21.24% | John J. Duncan, Jr. | ||||
| 70.60% | 25.60% | Chuck Fleischmann | ||||
| 69.30% | 26.31% | Scott DesJarlais | ||||
| 50.21% | 43.32% | Jim Cooper | ||||
| 73.32% | 22.04% | Diane Black | ||||
| 69.62% | 25.75% | Marsha Blackburn | ||||
| 70.26% | 26.40% | Stephen Fincher | ||||
| 28.56% | 67.00% | Steve Cohen |
Official campaign websites