2008 United States Senate election in Tennessee

The 2008 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held on November 4, 2008 to elect a member of the U.S. Senate from the State of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander won reelection to a second term.

2008 United States Senate election in Tennessee
November 4, 2008
 
Nominee Lamar Alexander Bob Tuke
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 1,571,637 762,779
Percentage 65.14% 32.64%
County results
Alexander:
     40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Tuke:
     50–60%
U.S. senator before election

Lamar Alexander
Republican

 Elected U.S. Senator

Lamar Alexander
Republican

Elections in Tennessee
Government

He won 65.1% of the vote against Democrat Bob Tuke, who won 32.6%; Alexander also won 28% of the African American vote.

Democratic primary

Candidates
  • Bob Tuke, former Chairman of the Democratic Party of Tennessee
  • Gary Davis, perennial candidate
  • Mike Padgett, former Knox County Clerk
  • Mark E. Clayton, insurance agent
  • Kenneth Eaton, businessman and Nashville mayoral candidate in 2003 and 2007
  • Leonard Ladner, truck-driver

Campaign

Mike Padgett finished third after Gary Davis, who did not campaign and used no money. Many were surprised at the results. They claimed that perhaps there was name confusion, with two incumbent congressmen David Davis and Lincoln Davis.[1]

Results
Democratic Party primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bob Tuke 59,050 32.21%
Democratic Gary G. Davis 39,119 21.34%
Democratic Mike Padgett 33,471 18.26%
Democratic Mark E. Clayton 32,309 17.62%
Democratic Kenneth Eaton 14,702 8.02%
Democratic Leonard D. Ladner 4,697 2.55%
Total votes 183,348 100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Results
Republican Party primary results[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lamar Alexander (Incumbent) 244,222 100.00%
Total votes 244,222 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Major
  • Lamar Alexander (R), incumbent U.S. Senator and former Governor
  • Bob Tuke (D), Chairman of the Democratic Party of Tennessee (2005–2007)

Minor

In Tennessee, a candidate seeking a House or Senate seat at the state or national level must gather 25 signatures from registered voters to be put on the ballot for any elected office.[4][5][6][7] Presidential candidates seeking to represent an officially recognized party must either be named as candidates by the Tennessee Secretary of State or gather 2,500 signatures from registered voters, and an independent candidate for President must gather 275 signatures and put forward a full slate of eleven candidates who have agreed to serve as electors.[8] In order to be recognized as a party and have its candidates listed on the ballot under that party's name, a political party must gather signatures equal to or in excess of 2.5% of the total number of votes cast in the last election (about 45,000 signatures based on the election held in 2006).[9] The last third party to be officially recognized was the American Party in 1968; none of its candidates received five percent of the statewide vote in 1970 and it was then subject to desertification as an official party.. Due to these hurdles third party candidates almost always appear on the ballot as independents.

  • Edward Buck (I)
  • Christopher Fenner (I)
  • David "None of the Above" Gatchell (I)
  • Bo Heyward (I)
  • Ed Lawhorn (I)
  • Daniel T. Lewis (L)[10]
  • Chris Lugo (I), Green party peace activist

Campaign

On April 3, 2007, Alexander confirmed that he would seek re-election to the Senate in 2008. Alexander has remained a popular figure in Tennessee since his first term as governor and faced no opposition in the Republican primary[11] Tuke is a former Marine who served in the Vietnam War. Tuke served as Barack Obama's Presidential campaign chair in Tennessee. Tuke declared himself to be a candidate March 3, 2008, and he secured the help of several high profile Democratic campaigners including Joe Trippi. There were many minor candidates in the race. Chris Lugo announced on January 17 that he was seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party as a 'Progressive Democrat.' In March 2008, Lugo announced he was dropping his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, and would run either for the Green Party nomination or as an independent.[12]

Polling
Source Date Alexander (R) Tuke (D)
Ayres, McHenry & Associates (R) March 11, 2008 59% 28%
Rasmussen Report April 8, 2008 59% 30%
MTSU Poll September 29, 2008 50% 26%
Rasmussen Reports September 29, 2008 56% 32%
Rasmussen Reports October 16, 2008 62% 34%

Results
United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2008[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Lamar Alexander (Incumbent) 1,579,477 65.14% +10.87%
Democratic Bob Tuke 767,236 31.64% -12.69%
Independent Edward L. Buck 31,631 1.30%
Independent Christopher G. Fenner 11,073 0.46%
Independent Daniel Towers Lewis 9,367 0.39%
Independent Chris Lugo 9,170 0.38%
Independent Ed Lawhorn 8,986 0.37%
Independent David Gatchell 7,645 0.32%
Majority 812,241 33.50% +23.56%
Turnout 2,424,585
Republican hold Swing
gollark: > how do they even make this useless junk for a dollar?! it's a modern marvelThe amazing power of automated assembly lines I guess?
gollark: It's not sarcastic as much as vaguely ironic, but yes.
gollark: Not particularly.
gollark: I mean "uncool" as in "actually really quite bad".
gollark: He is a president, but a rather uncool one.

References
  1. Cagle, Frank (August 13, 2008). "Last week's county election puts the Republican machine back in power". Knoxville Metro Pulse. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012.
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Qualifying Procedures for Candidates for United States Senator", Tennessee Division of Elections (accessed November 3, 2008).
  5. "Qualifying Procedures for Tennessee Candidates for United States House of Representatives", Tennessee Division of Elections (accessed November 3, 2008).
  6. "Qualifying Procedures for Candidates for Tennessee State Senator", Tennessee Division of Elections (accessed November 3, 2008).
  7. "Qualifying Procedures for Candidates for Tennessee House of Representatives", Tennessee Division of Elections (accessed November 3, 2008).
  8. "Tennessee Ballot Access Procedures for Candidates for U.S. President", Tennessee Division of Elections (accessed November 3, 2008).
  9. "Against all odds, third-party candidates fight on", The Tennessean (accessed November 3, 2008).
  10. United States Senate Candidate List From Tennessee http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election/cand/USSenateList.pdf
  11. "4/3/2007 - Alexander Running Again, Sets Fundraiser - Breaking News - Chattanoogan.com". Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
  12. Nathan Frick (March 21, 2008). "Democratic Senate Field Narrowed". News Channel 9. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  13. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2008/2008Stat.htm#stateTN


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