2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee should not be confused with 2012 Tennessee House of Representatives election.
| Election Name: | 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Seats For Election: | All 9 Tennessee seats to the United States House of Representatives |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Last Election1: | 7 |
| Seats1: | 7 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,369,562 |
| Percentage1: | 60.55% |
| Swing1: | 0.75% |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Last Election2: | 2 |
| Seats2: | 2 |
| Popular Vote2: | 796,513 |
| Percentage2: | 35.21% |
| Swing2: | 0.51% |
| Turnout: | 61.86% [1] 20.54 pp |
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Tennessee, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on August 2, 2012.[2]
These elections were the first under Tennessee's new congressional map after redistricting was completed by the state government. Following the 2012 elections, no seats changed hands, leaving the Tennessee delegation at a 7-2 Republican majority.
| District | Incumbent | Party | First elected | Result | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 1988 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 1982 1994 2002 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2002 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||
| 2006 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
See also: Tennessee's 1st congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 1st congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 1 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 1 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Phil Roe official photo (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Phil Roe |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 182,252 |
| Percentage1: | 76.0% |
| Nominee2: | Alan Woodruff |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 47,663 |
| Percentage2: | 19.9% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Phil Roe |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Phil Roe |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 1st district will represent Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties, and parts of Jefferson County. The most populous city in the district is Johnson City, and the district will continue to be anchored by the Tri-Cities area.[3] Republican Phil Roe, who has represented the 1st district since 2009, ran for re-election.[4]
See also: Tennessee's 2nd congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 2nd congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 2 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 2 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:John J. Duncan Jr, official portrait, 115th Congress (cropped).png |
| Nominee1: | Jimmy Duncan |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 196,894 |
| Percentage1: | 74.4% |
| Nominee2: | Troy Goodale |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 54,522 |
| Percentage2: | 20.6% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | John J. Duncan, Jr. |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | John J. Duncan, Jr. |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 2nd district will represent Blount, Claiborne, Grainger, Knox, and Loudon counties, and parts of Campbell and Jefferson counties. The most populous city in the district is Knoxville; as before, the district is largely coextensive with that city's metropolitan area. Republican Jimmy Duncan who has represented the 2nd district since 1988 ran for re-election.
See also: Tennessee's 3rd congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 3rd congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 3 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 3 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Chuck Flieschmann, Official Portrait, 112th Congress.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Chuck Fleischmann |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 157,830 |
| Percentage1: | 61.5% |
| Nominee2: | Mary Headrick |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 91,094 |
| Percentage2: | 35.4% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Chuck Fleischmann |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Chuck Fleischmann |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 3rd district will represent Anderson, Hamilton, McMinn, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Roane, Scott, and Union counties, and parts of Bradley and Campbell counties. The most populous city in the district is Chattanooga. Republican Chuck Fleischmann, who has represented the 3rd district since January 2011, ran for re-election.[5]
See also: Tennessee's 4th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 4th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 4 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 4 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Scott DesJarlais, official portrait, 112th Congress (3x4).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Scott DesJarlais |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 128,568 |
| Percentage1: | 55.76% |
| Nominee2: | Eric Stewart |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 102,022 |
| Percentage2: | 44.24% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Scott DesJarlais |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Scott DesJarlais |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 4th district represented Bedford, Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Meigs, Moore, Rhea, Rutherford, Sequatchie, and Warren counties, and parts of Bradley, Maury, and Van Buren counties. The most populous city in the district was Murfreesboro, which had previously anchored the 6th District.
Republican Scott DesJarlais who had represented the 4th district since January 2011. He ran for re-election and won.
State senator Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro resident, had been rumored to be considering a run for the 4th; he was chairman of the redistricting committee and reportedly drew Murfreesboro into the district to facilitate a run. However, on January 22, 2012, he announced he would not run.[15]
DesJarlais won the Republican Party primary on August 2, 2012.[17] [18]
State senator Eric Stewart announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge DesJarlais in late 2011.[19] The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made his candidacy their top priority in the South in early 2012.[20] Stewart won the Democratic party endorsement.[21]
The general election was characterized by a series of controversies involving the incumbent. Stewart agreed to three debates, but DesJarlais told the media that he would not participate.[22] The incumbent was "open to revisiting the question later in the campaign", accusing Stewart of "lack of clarity on the issues" as a reason to avoid debating him.[23] Stewart responded that DesJarlais was avoiding the voters. The local media were critical of the congressman's stance on the debate issue: the Chattanoogan asked, "Why Won't Desjarlais Debate?"[24] and the Times Free Press called it "No good reason to avoid debates".[25]
In October 2012, DesJarlais silenced two Democratic representatives on the floor of Congress.[26] DesJarlais was Speaker of the House pro tempore, in a pro forma session to prevent "President Barack Obama from making recess appointments without congressional consent".[27] Stewart accused DesJarlais of neglecting the district's farmers by not passing the Farm Bill.
The media reported in mid-October 2012 on DesJarlais divorce of his first wife, Susan, from 2001.[28] During their divorce proceedings, Susan DesJarlais alleged that her ex-husband engaged in "violent and threatening behavior".[29] Court filings revealed that he had an affair with a female patient, and pressured her to have an abortion after she became pregnant.[30] [31] [32] In response to the news, Stewart called him a "pro-life hypocrite", contending that "DesJarlais can't be trusted".[33] The DesJarlais campaign did not challenge the truth of the allegations, but replied that "This is old news...." Stewart parried in a news conference that:After all that, DesJarlais "lashed out at Stewart",[34] stating "there was no pregnancy, and no abortion", blaming his opponents and ex-wife for "dredging up details from his past".[35] [36] [37] [38]
After the primary elections, the race had been rated "Likely GOP" by RealClearPolitics.[39] By July 13 FEC filings, DesJarlais had raised twice as much as Stewart, and had "$591,976 in the bank to Stewart's $152,712".[40] Stewart's aim was to "blanket" the local airways with ads attacking his opponent's vote in favor of Paul Ryan's budget, while the incumbent would tie him to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in the district. As of October 7, The Tennessean noted that comparing "money and recent history, DesJarlais has the advantage", due to incumbency, raising twice the funds as Stewart, and the GOP tilt of the district; however, "DesJarlais' edge is not as large as the ones held by his Republican peers in Tennessee, ... DesJarlais entered the election with low name recognition, and he cannot count on the wave of conservative voters that swept Republican candidates into Congress two years ago."[41] Both candidates were running as "outsiders".
As of October 12, the Romney/Ryan campaign had removed DesJarlais's endorsement from their website as reported by the Associated Press.[34] Local political analyst Pat Nolan said that, as of October 10, this probably would be in the news for only a few days, "but it may take longer than that for it to really sink in and for people to understand it". When it breaks and how much money they have to get their messages across are "key" for them.[42] By October 14, it had become the "State's most contentious U.S. House battle [that] has everyone talking".[43] As of October 13, analysts stated that Stewart still had an uphill battle finding enough voters to back him.[44]
On the eve of the election, November 5, the Associated Press called for Tennessee's 11 electoral votes to go to "Romney with ease." It also predicted an easy re-election for Senator Bob Corker. However, it noted "Tougher times for GOP Rep. Scott DesJarlais after revelations he once discussed abortion with mistress."[45]
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Scott DesJarlais (R) | Eric Stewart (D) | Undecided | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Opinion Strategies (R-DesJarlais)[46] | October 22–23, 2012 | 400 | ± 4.9% | align=center | 49% | 36% | 15% | |
| Myers Research/Strategic Services (D-Stewart)[47] | October 14–15, 2012 | 400 | ± 4.9% | align=center | 49% | 44% | 7% |
| Source | Ranking | As of | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | The Cook Political Report[48] | November 5, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Rothenberg[49] | November 2, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Roll Call[50] | November 4, 2012 | ||
| align=left | Sabato's Crystal Ball[51] | November 5, 2012 | ||
| align=left | NY Times[52] | November 4, 2012 | ||
| RCP[53] | November 4, 2012 | |||
| align=left | The Hill[54] | November 4, 2012 |
DesJarlais won the election.[55]
DailyKos noted that the race was one of the "few outliers" in 2012: "No Democratic challenger did quite so well in quite so red a district." Using regression analysis, Stewart's 44.24% tally was the second best of all Democratic candidates, compared to the 30.92% predicted share he would have gotten, all things being equal.[56]
See also: Tennessee's 5th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 5th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 5 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 5 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Jim Cooper, Official Portrait, ca2013 (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Jim Cooper |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 171,621 |
| Percentage1: | 65.2% |
| Nominee2: | Brad Staats |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 86,240 |
| Percentage2: | 32.8% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Jim Cooper |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Jim Cooper |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
The redrawn 5th district will represent Davidson and Dickson counties, and most of Cheatham County. It is based around Nashville, all of which was restored to the district. Previously, a sliver of southwestern Nashville had been in the 7th District. Democrat Jim Cooper has represented the 5th district since 2003, and previously represented the 4th district from 1983 until 1995.
See also: Tennessee's 6th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 6th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 6 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 6 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Diane Black, 115th official photo (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Diane Black |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 184,383 |
| Percentage1: | 76.4% |
| Nominee2: | Scott Beasley |
| Party2: | Independent politician |
| Popular Vote2: | 34,766 |
| Percentage2: | 14.4% |
| Image3: | File:3x4.svg |
| Nominee3: | Pat Riley |
| Party3: | Green Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote3: | 22,092 |
| Percentage3: | 9.2% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Diane Black |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Diane Black |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 6th district will represent Cannon, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, White, and Wilson counties, and small northern parts of Cheatham and Van Buren counties. The most populous city in the district is Cookeville. Republican Diane Black who has represented the 6th district since January 2011 ran for re-election.
See also: Tennessee's 7th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 7th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 7 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 7 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Marsha blackburn congress (cropped 2).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Marsha Blackburn |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 182,730 |
| Percentage1: | 71.0% |
| Nominee2: | Credo Amouzouvik |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 61,679 |
| Percentage2: | 24.0% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Marsha Blackburn |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Marsha Blackburn |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 7th district will represent Chester, Decatur, Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Lawrence, Lewis, McNairy, Montgomery, Perry, Stewart, Wayne, and Williamson counties, and parts of Benton and Maury counties. The most populous city in the district is Clarksville. It is significantly more compact than its predecessor, which stretched for 200 miles from east to west but was only two miles wide in some areas of the eastern portion. Republican Marsha Blackburn who has represented the 7th district since 2003 ran for re-election.
See also: Tennessee's 8th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 8th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 8 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 8 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Congressman Stephen Fincher Official Headshot.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Stephen Fincher |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 190,923 |
| Percentage1: | 68.3% |
| Nominee2: | Timothy Dixon |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 79,490 |
| Percentage2: | 28.4% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Stephen Fincher |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Stephen Fincher |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The redrawn 8th district will represent Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Haywood, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, Obion, Tipton, and Weakley counties, and parts of Benton and Shelby counties. The most populous city in the district is Jackson. The new district is significantly more Republican than its predecessor; the legislature pushed it further into the heavily Republican Memphis suburbs. Republican Stephen Fincher, who has represented the 8th district since January 2011, ran for re-election.[59]
| County[61] | Stephen Fincher Republican | Timothy Dixon Democratic | Other votes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | ||||||
| 56.25% | 18 | 37.50% | 12 | 6.25% | 2 | |||
| 68.07% | 6,888 | 28.32% | 2,866 | 3.61% | 365 | |||
| 77.95% | 3,981 | 19.82% | 1,012 | 2.23% | 114 | |||
| 75.41% | 9,545 | 21.69% | 2,746 | 2.90% | 367 | |||
| 68.42% | 11,344 | 28.46% | 4,719 | 3.12% | 517 | |||
| 70.21% | 12,121 | 26.48 | 4,572 | 3.30% | 570 | |||
| 45.72% | 3,229 | 50.90% | 3,595 | 3.38% | 239 | |||
| 61.44% | 6,874 | 29.51% | 3,311 | 8.97% | 1,004 | |||
| 56.77% | 1,056 | 38.98% | 725 | 4.25% | 79 | |||
| 61.72% | 4,730 | 35.53% | 2,723 | 2.75% | 211 | |||
| 57.02% | 21,644 | 39.49% | 15,002 | 3.49% | 1,326 | |||
| 68.48% | 7,794 | 27.87% | 3,172 | 3.65% | 416 | |||
| 72.81% | 78,491 | 24.71% | 26,634 | 2.49% | 2,681 | |||
| 72.52% | 15,206 | 24.06% | 5,044 | 3.42% | 718 | |||
| 68.00% | 7,982 | 28.60% | 3,357 | 3.41% | 400 | |||
See also: Tennessee's 9th congressional district.
| Election Name: | 2012 Tennessee's 9th congressional district election |
| Country: | Tennessee |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 9 |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee#District 9 |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Image1: | File:Steve Cohen (cropped).jpeg |
| Nominee1: | Steve Cohen |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 188,422 |
| Percentage1: | 75.1% |
| Nominee2: | George Flinn Jr. |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 59,742 |
| Percentage2: | 23.8% |
| U.S. Representative | |
| Before Election: | Steve Cohen |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Steve Cohen |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
The redrawn 9th district will represent most of Shelby County, and is based around Memphis. Democrat Steve Cohen, who has represented the 9th district since 2007, ran for re-election.[62]